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ZFAT is essential for endothelial cell assembly and the branch point formation of capillary-like structures in an angiogenesis model

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters volume 15, pages 541–550 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

ZFAT, originally identified as a susceptibility gene for autoimmune thyroid disease, encodes a transcriptional regulator with one AT-hook and 18 C2H2-type zinc-finger domains. It is highly conserved among species. Here, we demonstrate that ZFAT is clearly expressed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Furthermore, we show that endothelial cell assembly and the branch point formation of capillary-like structures in HUVECs is impaired by the reduction of ZFAT expression through the use of ZFAT-miRNAs, whereas differences in cell proliferation or apoptotic features were not observed after the reduction in ZFAT expression. These results suggest that ZFAT may have critical roles in the capillary-like network formation that is involved in vascular remodeling. Elucidating the ZFAT-mediated transcriptional network will lead to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis.

Abbreviations

C2H2 :

Cys2-His2

HUVECs:

human umbilical vein endothelial cells

miRNA:

microRNA

ZFAT:

zinc-finger gene in autoimmune thyroid disease susceptibility region

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan

    Yasuhiro Yoshida, Toshiyuki Tsunoda, Yasuo Takashima, Takahiro Fujimoto, Keiko Doi & Senji Shirasawa

  2. Department of Thoracic, Endocrine and Pediatric Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan

    Yasuhiro Yoshida & Akinori Iwasaki

  3. Center for Advanced Molecular Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, 814-0180, Japan

    Toshiyuki Tsunoda, Yasuo Takashima, Takahiro Fujimoto, Keiko Doi, Masahide Kuroki & Senji Shirasawa

  4. Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan

    Takehiko Sasazuki

Authors
  1. Yasuhiro Yoshida
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  2. Toshiyuki Tsunoda
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  3. Yasuo Takashima
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  4. Takahiro Fujimoto
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  5. Keiko Doi
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  6. Takehiko Sasazuki
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  7. Masahide Kuroki
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  8. Akinori Iwasaki
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  9. Senji Shirasawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Senji Shirasawa.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Yoshida, Y., Tsunoda, T., Takashima, Y. et al. ZFAT is essential for endothelial cell assembly and the branch point formation of capillary-like structures in an angiogenesis model. Cell Mol Biol Lett 15, 541–550 (2010). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-010-0028-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11658-010-0028-y

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Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters

ISSN: 1689-1392

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