Gene Regulation and Arteriosclerosis: Are Developmental Programs Reactivated in Vascular Disease?

Cam Patterson

doi:10.1055/s-0037-1615549

Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Table of Contents

Thromb Haemost 1999; 82(S 01): 27-31
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1615549

Commentaries

Schattauer GmbH

Gene Regulation and Arteriosclerosis: Are Developmental Programs Reactivated in Vascular Disease?

Authors

Cam Patterson

¹University of Texas Medical Branch, Division of Cardiology and Sealy Center for Molecular Cardiology, Galveston, TX, USA

Abstract

Summary

The molecular mechanisms regulating the development of vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis remain poorly understood at present. Similarities between genetic programs observed during the course of vascular disease with those observed during vascular development suggest that developmental processes are recapitulated in vascular disease. The earliest event in vascular development is the differentiation of endothelial cells from their mesodermally-derived hamangioblastic precursors. The receptor for vascular endothelial growth factor, KDR/flk-1, plays a critical role in these earliest stages of vascular development. During development and in the adult, expression of this receptor is restricted to vascular endothelial cells and their immediate precursors. We have therefore endeavored to determine the transcriptional events regulating KDR/flk-1 expression, with the hope of gaining insight into processes of vascular development that might also be important in vascular diseases of the adult.

Key words

Angiogenesis - gene regulation - atherosclerosis - proliferation

Full Text

References

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