Objective—Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) exerts proangiogenic action and induces activation of a variety of proangiogenic signaling pathways, including the Rho family small G proteins. However, regulators of the Rho family small G proteins in vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are poorly understood. Here we attempted to clarify the expression, subcellular localization, downstream effec...

Abundant bone marrow angiogenesis is present in almost all myeloma patients requiring therapy and correlated to treatment response and survival. We assessed the expression of 402 angiogenesis-associated genes by Affymetrix DNA microarrays in 466 samples, including CD138-purified myeloma cells (MMCs) from 300 previously untreated patients, in vivo microcirculation by dynamic contrast-enhanced ma...

One of the major challenges of bone tissue engineering applications is to construct a fully vascularized implant that can adapt to hypoxic environments in vivo. The incorporation of proangiogenic factors into scaffolds is a widely accepted method of achieving this goal. Recently, the proangiogenic potential of mesenchymal stem cell-derived microvesicles (MSC-MVs) has been confirmed in several s...

The ultimate success of in vivo organ formation utilizing ex vivo expanded "starter" tissues relies heavily upon the level of vascularization provided by either endogenous or artificial induction of angiogenic or vasculogenic events. To facilitate proangiogenic outcomes and promote tissue growth, an elastomeric scaffold previously shown to be instrumental in the urinary bladder regenerative pro...

The proangiogenic action of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) transplantation has been shown to be mediated by secretory factors. In this study, we determined if human granulocyte chemotactic protein-2(GCP2) or monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP1) is involved in the proangiogenic action of hASCs transplantation in the hindlimb ischemia model. hASCs secrete GCP2 and...

Manipulation of angiogenesis in vivo is an example of successful gene therapy strategies. Overexpression of angiogenic genes like VEGF, FGF or PDGF causes new vessel formation and improves the clinical state of patients. Gene therapy is a very promising procedure but requires large amounts of pharmaceutical-grade plasmid DNA. In this regard we have constructed a bicistronic plasmid DNA vector e...

Cardiovascular risk factors are associated with reduction in both the number and function of vascular progenitor cells. We hypothesized that 1) hypertension abrogates postnatal vasculogenesis, and 2) antihypertensive treatment based on the combination of perindopril (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) and indapamide (diuretic) may counteract hypertension-induced alteration in progenitor c...

Endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) cultures and colony-forming units (CFUs) have been extensively studied for their therapeutic and diagnostic potential. Recent data suggest a role for EPCs in the release of proangiogenic factors. To identify factors secreted by EPCs, conditioned medium from EPC cultures and CFUs was analyzed using a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem time-of-fli...

UNLABELLED Persistent human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection has been linked to several diseases, including atherosclerosis, transplant vascular sclerosis (TVS), restenosis, and glioblastoma. We have previously shown that factors secreted from HCMV-infected cells induce angiogenesis and that this process is due, at least in part, to increased secretion of interleukin-6 (IL-6). In order to ident...