Praliciguat Promotes Ischemic Leg Reperfusion in Leptin Receptor-Deficient Mice.

BACKGROUND: Lower-limb peripheral artery disease is one of the major complications of diabetes. Peripheral artery disease is associated with poor limb and cardiovascular prognoses, along with a dramatic decrease in life expectancy. Despite major medical advances in the treatment of diabetes, a substantial therapeutic gap remains in the peripheral artery disease population. Praliciguat is an orally available sGC (soluble guanylate cyclase) stimulator that has been reported both preclinically and in early stage clinical trials to have favorable effects in metabolic and hemodynamic outcomes, suggesting that it may have a potential beneficial effect in peripheral artery disease. METHODS: We evaluated the effect of praliciguat on hind limb ischemia recovery in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes. Hind limb ischemia was induced in leptin receptor-deficient (Leprdb/db) mice by ligation and excision of the left femoral artery. Praliciguat (10 mg/kg/day) was administered in the diet starting 3 days before surgery. RESULTS: Twenty-eight days after surgery, ischemic foot perfusion and function parameters were better in praliciguat-treated mice than in vehicle controls. Improved ischemic foot perfusion was not associated with either improved traditional cardiovascular risk factors (ie, weight, glycemia) or increased angiogenesis. However, treatment with praliciguat significantly increased arteriole diameter, decreased ICAM1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1) expression, and prevented the accumulation of oxidative proangiogenic and proinflammatory muscle fibers. While investigating the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of praliciguat therapy, we found that praliciguat significantly downregulated Myh2 and Cxcl12 mRNA expression in cultured myoblasts and that conditioned medium form praliciguat-treated myoblast decreased ICAM1 mRNA expression in endothelial cells. These results suggest that praliciguat therapy may decrease ICAM1 expression in endothelial cells by downregulating Cxcl12 in myocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that praliciguat promotes blood flow recovery in the ischemic muscle of mice with type 2 diabetes, at least in part by increasing arteriole diameter and by downregulating ICAM1 expression.

Thrombosis in the Coronary Microvasculature Impairs Cardiac Relaxation and Induces Diastolic Dysfunction.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is proposed to be caused by endothelial dysfunction in cardiac microvessels. Our goal was to identify molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the development of cardiac microvessel disease and diastolic dysfunction in the setting of type 2 diabetes. METHODS: We used Leprdb/db (leptin receptor-deficient) female mice as a model of type 2 diabetes and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and identified Hhipl1 (hedgehog interacting protein-like 1), which encodes for a decoy receptor for HH (hedgehog) ligands as a gene upregulated in the cardiac vascular fraction of diseased mice. RESULTS: We then used Dhh (desert HH)-deficient mice to investigate the functional consequences of impaired HH signaling in the adult heart. We found that Dhh-deficient mice displayed increased end-diastolic pressure while left ventricular ejection fraction was comparable to that of control mice. This phenotype was associated with a reduced exercise tolerance in the treadmill test, suggesting that Dhh-deficient mice do present heart failure. At molecular and cellular levels, impaired cardiac relaxation in DhhECKO mice was associated with a significantly decreased PLN (phospholamban) phosphorylation on Thr17 (threonine 17) and an alteration of sarcomeric shortening ex vivo. Besides, as expected, Dhh-deficient mice exhibited phenotypic changes in their cardiac microvessels including a prominent prothrombotic phenotype. Importantly, aspirin therapy prevented the occurrence of both diastolic dysfunction and exercise intolerance in these mice. To confirm the critical role of thrombosis in the pathophysiology of diastolic dysfunction, we verified Leprdb/db also displays increased cardiac microvessel thrombosis. Moreover, consistently, with Dhh-deficient mice, we found that aspirin treatment decreased end-diastolic pressure and improved exercise tolerance in Leprdb/db mice. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these results demonstrate that microvessel thrombosis may participate in the pathophysiology of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Endothelial DLL4 Is an Adipose Depot-Specific Fasting Sensor Regulating Fatty Acid Fluxes.

BACKGROUND: Adaptation of fat depots to change in fuel availability is critical for metabolic flexibility and cardiometabolic health. The mechanisms responsible for fat depot-specific lipid sensing and shuttling remain elusive. Adipose tissue microvascular endothelial cells (AT-EC) regulates bidirectional fatty acid fluxes depending on fed or fasted state. How AT-EC sense and adapt to metabolic changes according to AT location remains to be established. METHODS: We combined transcriptional analysis of native human AT-EC together with in vitro approaches in primary human AT-EC and in vivo and ex vivo studies of mice under fed and fasted conditions. RESULTS: Transcriptional large-scale analysis of human AT-EC isolated from gluteofemoral and abdominal subcutaneous AT revealed that the endothelium exhibits a fat depot-specific signature associated with lipid handling and Notch signaling enrichment. We uncovered a functional link between metabolic status and endothelial DLL4 (delta-like canonical notch ligand 4), which decreases with fasting. DLL4 regulates fatty acid uptake through nontranscriptional modulation of macropinocytosis-dependent long chain fatty acid uptake. Importantly, the changes in DLL4 expression, in response to energy transition state, is impaired under obesogenic conditions, an early alteration coinciding with a defect in systemic fatty acid fluxes adaptation and a resistance to weight loss. CONCLUSIONS: DLL4 is a major actor in the adaptive mechanisms of AT-EC to regulate lipid fluxes. It likely contributes to fat depot-dependent metabolism in response to energy transition states. AT-EC alteration with obesity may favor metabolic inflexibility and the development of cardiometabolic disorders.

Blood-brain barrier genetic disruption leads to protective barrier formation at the Glia Limitans.

Inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) induces endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening as well as the formation of a tight junction barrier between reactive astrocytes at the Glia Limitans. We hypothesized that the CNS parenchyma may acquire protection from the reactive astrocytic Glia Limitans not only during neuroinflammation but also when BBB integrity is compromised in the resting state. Previous studies found that astrocyte-derived Sonic hedgehog (SHH) stabilizes the BBB during CNS inflammatory disease, while endothelial-derived desert hedgehog (DHH) is expressed at the BBB under resting conditions. Here, we investigated the effects of endothelial Dhh on the integrity of the BBB and Glia Limitans. We first characterized DHH expression within endothelial cells at the BBB, then demonstrated that DHH is down-regulated during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Using a mouse model in which endothelial Dhh is inducibly deleted, we found that endothelial Dhh both opens the BBB via the modulation of forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) transcriptional activity and induces a tight junctional barrier at the Glia Limitans. We confirmed the relevance of this glial barrier system in human multiple sclerosis active lesions. These results provide evidence for the novel concept of "chronic neuroinflammatory tolerance" in which BBB opening in the resting state is sufficient to stimulate a protective barrier at the Glia Limitans that limits the severity of subsequent neuroinflammatory disease. In summary, genetic disruption of the BBB generates endothelial signals that drive the formation under resting conditions of a secondary barrier at the Glia Limitans with protective effects against subsequent CNS inflammation. The concept of a reciprocally regulated CNS double barrier system has implications for treatment strategies in both the acute and chronic phases of multiple sclerosis pathophysiology.

Mast Cells Are the Trigger of Small Vessel Disease and Diastolic Dysfunction in Diabetic Obese Mice.

[Figure: see text].

Desert Hedgehog-Driven Endothelium Integrity Is Enhanced by Gas1 (Growth Arrest-Specific 1) but Negatively Regulated by Cdon (Cell Adhesion Molecule-Related/Downregulated by Oncogenes).

OBJECTIVE: Evidences accumulated within the past decades identified hedgehog signaling as a new regulator of endothelium integrity. More specifically, we recently identified Dhh (desert hedgehog) as a downstream effector of Klf2 (Kruppel-like factor 2) in endothelial cells (ECs). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether hedgehog coreceptors Gas1 (growth arrest-specific 1) and Cdon (cell adhesion molecule-related/downregulated by oncogenes) may be used as therapeutic targets to modulate Dhh signaling in ECs. Approach and Results: We demonstrated that both Gas1 and Cdon are expressed in adult ECs and relied on either siRNAs- or EC-specific conditional knockout mice to investigate their role. We found that Gas1 deficiency mainly phenocopies Dhh deficiency especially by inducing VCAM-1 (vascular cell adhesion molecule 1) and ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1) overexpression while Cdon deficiency has opposite effects by promoting endothelial junction integrity. At a molecular level, Cdon prevents Dhh binding to Ptch1 (patched-1) and thus acts as a decoy receptor for Dhh, while Gas1 promotes Dhh binding to Smo (smoothened) and as a result potentiates Dhh effects. Since Cdon is upregulated in ECs treated by inflammatory cytokines, including TNF (tumor necrosis factor)-α and Il (interleukin)-1ß, we then tested whether Cdon inhibition would promote endothelium integrity in acute inflammatory conditions and found that both fibrinogen and IgG extravasation were decreased in association with an increased Cdh5 (cadherin-5) expression in the brain cortex of EC-specific Cdon knockout mice administered locally with Il-1ß. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these results demonstrate that Gas1 is a positive regulator of Dhh in ECs while Cdon is a negative regulator. Interestingly, Cdon blocking molecules may then be used to promote endothelium integrity, at least in inflammatory conditions.

Restoring Endothelial Function by Targeting Desert Hedgehog Downstream of Klf2 Improves Critical Limb Ischemia in Adults.

RATIONALE: Klf (kruppel-like factor) 2 is critical to establish and maintain endothelial integrity. OBJECTIVE: Therefore, determining upstream and downstream mediators of Klf2 would lead to alternative therapeutic targets in cardiovascular disease management. METHODS AND RESULTS: Here we identify Dhh (desert hedgehog) as a downstream effector of Klf2, whose expression in endothelial cells (ECs) is upregulated by shear stress and decreased by inflammatory cytokines. Consequently, we show that Dhh knockdown in ECs promotes endothelial permeability and EC activation and that Dhh agonist prevents TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor alpha) or glucose-induced EC dysfunction. Moreover, we demonstrate that human critical limb ischemia, a pathological condition linked to diabetes mellitus and inflammation, is associated to major EC dysfunction. By recreating a complex model of critical limb ischemia in diabetic mice, we found that Dhh-signaling agonist significantly improved EC function without promoting angiogenesis, which subsequently improved muscle perfusion. CONCLUSION: Restoring EC function leads to significant critical limb ischemia recovery. Dhh appears to be a promising target, downstream of Klf2, to prevent the endothelial dysfunction involved in ischemic vascular diseases.

The Transcriptional Activator Krüppel-like Factor-6 Is Required for CNS Myelination.

Growth factors of the gp130 family promote oligodendrocyte differentiation, and viability, and myelination, but their mechanisms of action are incompletely understood. Here, we show that these effects are coordinated, in part, by the transcriptional activator Krüppel-like factor-6 (Klf6). Klf6 is rapidly induced in oligodendrocyte progenitors (OLP) by gp130 factors, and promotes differentiation. Conversely, in mice with lineage-selective Klf6 inactivation, OLP undergo maturation arrest followed by apoptosis, and CNS myelination fails. Overlapping transcriptional and chromatin occupancy analyses place Klf6 at the nexus of a novel gp130-Klf-importin axis, which promotes differentiation and viability in part via control of nuclear trafficking. Klf6 acts as a gp130-sensitive transactivator of the nuclear import factor importin-α5 (Impα5), and interfering with this mechanism interrupts step-wise differentiation. Underscoring the significance of this axis in vivo, mice with conditional inactivation of gp130 signaling display defective Klf6 and Impα5 expression, OLP maturation arrest and apoptosis, and failure of CNS myelination.

Role of Hedgehog Signaling in Vasculature Development, Differentiation, and Maintenance.

The role of Hedgehog (Hh) signaling in vascular biology has first been highlighted in embryos by Pepicelli et al. in 1998 and Rowitch et al. in 1999. Since then, the proangiogenic role of the Hh ligands has been confirmed in adults, especially under pathologic conditions. More recently, the Hh signaling has been proposed to improve vascular integrity especially at the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the role of the Hh signaling in vascular biology remain poorly understood and conflicting results have been reported. As a matter of fact, in several settings, it is currently not clear whether Hh ligands promote vessel integrity and quiescence or destabilize vessels to promote angiogenesis. The present review relates the current knowledge regarding the role of the Hh signaling in vasculature development, maturation and maintenance, discusses the underlying proposed mechanisms and highlights controversial data which may serve as a guideline for future research. Most importantly, fully understanding such mechanisms is critical for the development of safe and efficient therapies to target the Hh signaling in both cancer and cardiovascular/cerebrovascular diseases.

Sonic hedgehog mediates a novel pathway of PDGF-BB-dependent vessel maturation.

Recruitment of mural cells (MCs), namely pericytes and smooth muscle cells (SMCs), is essential to improve the maturation of newly formed vessels. Sonic hedgehog (Shh) has been suggested to promote the formation of larger and more muscularized vessels, but the underlying mechanisms of this process have not yet been elucidated. We first identified Shh as a target of platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) and found that SMCs respond to Shh by upregulating extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and Akt phosphorylation. We next showed that PDGF-BB-induced SMC migration was reduced after inhibition of Shh or its signaling pathway. Moreover, we found that PDGF-BB-induced SMC migration involves Shh-mediated motility. In vivo, in the mouse model of corneal angiogenesis, Shh is expressed by MCs of newly formed blood vessels. PDGF-BB inhibition reduced Shh expression, demonstrating that Shh is a target of PDGF-BB, confirming in vitro experiments. Finally, we found that in vivo inhibition of either PDGF-BB or Shh signaling reduces NG2(+) MC recruitment into neovessels and subsequently reduces neovessel life span. Our findings demonstrate, for the first time, that Shh is involved in PDGF-BB-induced SMC migration and recruitment of MCs into neovessels and elucidate the molecular signaling pathway involved in this process.

Astrocytic TYMP and VEGFA drive blood-brain barrier opening in inflammatory central nervous system lesions.

In inflammatory central nervous system conditions such as multiple sclerosis, breakdown of the blood-brain barrier is a key event in lesion pathogenesis, predisposing to oedema, excitotoxicity, and ingress of plasma proteins and inflammatory cells. Recently, we showed that reactive astrocytes drive blood-brain barrier opening, via production of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA). Here, we now identify thymidine phosphorylase (TYMP; previously known as endothelial cell growth factor 1, ECGF1) as a second key astrocyte-derived permeability factor, which interacts with VEGFA to induce blood-brain barrier disruption. The two are co-induced NFκB1-dependently in human astrocytes by the cytokine interleukin 1 beta (IL1B), and inactivation of Vegfa in vivo potentiates TYMP induction. In human central nervous system microvascular endothelial cells, VEGFA and the TYMP product 2-deoxy-d-ribose cooperatively repress tight junction proteins, driving permeability. Notably, this response represents part of a wider pattern of endothelial plasticity: 2-deoxy-d-ribose and VEGFA produce transcriptional programs encompassing angiogenic and permeability genes, and together regulate a third unique cohort. Functionally, each promotes proliferation and viability, and they cooperatively drive motility and angiogenesis. Importantly, introduction of either into mouse cortex promotes blood-brain barrier breakdown, and together they induce severe barrier disruption. In the multiple sclerosis model experimental autoimmune encephalitis, TYMP and VEGFA co-localize to reactive astrocytes, and correlate with blood-brain barrier permeability. Critically, blockade of either reduces neurologic deficit, blood-brain barrier disruption and pathology, and inhibiting both in combination enhances tissue preservation. Suggesting importance in human disease, TYMP and VEGFA both localize to reactive astrocytes in multiple sclerosis lesion samples. Collectively, these data identify TYMP as an astrocyte-derived permeability factor, and suggest TYMP and VEGFA together promote blood-brain barrier breakdown.

Desert hedgehog promotes ischemia-induced angiogenesis by ensuring peripheral nerve survival.

RATIONALE: Blood vessel growth and patterning have been shown to be regulated by nerve-derived signals. Desert hedgehog (Dhh), one of the Hedgehog family members, is expressed by Schwann cells of peripheral nerves. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of Dhh to angiogenesis in the setting of ischemia. METHODS AND RESULTS: We induced hindlimb ischemia in wild-type and Dhh(-/-) mice. First, we found that limb perfusion is significantly impaired in the absence of Dhh. This effect is associated with a significant decrease in capillary and artery density in Dhh(-/-). By using mice in which the Hedgehog signaling pathway effector Smoothened was specifically invalidated in endothelial cells, we demonstrated that Dhh does not promote angiogenesis by a direct activation of endothelial cells. On the contrary, we found that Dhh promotes peripheral nerve survival in the ischemic muscle and, by doing so, maintains the pool of nerve-derived proangiogenic factors. Consistently, we found that denervation of the leg, immediately after the onset of ischemia, severely impairs ischemia-induced angiogenesis and decreases expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A, angiopoietin 1, and neurotrophin 3 in the ischemic muscle. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the crucial roles of nerves and factors regulating nerve physiology in the setting of ischemia-induced angiogenesis.

Gli3 regulation of myogenesis is necessary for ischemia-induced angiogenesis.

RATIONALE: A better understanding of the mechanism underlying skeletal muscle repair is required to develop therapies that promote tissue regeneration in adults. Hedgehog signaling has been shown previously to be involved in myogenesis and angiogenesis: 2 crucial processes for muscle development and regeneration. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the role of the hedgehog transcription factor Gli3 in the cross-talk between angiogenesis and myogenesis in adults. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using conditional knockout mice, we found that Gli3 deficiency in endothelial cells did not affect ischemic muscle repair, whereas in myocytes, Gli3 deficiency resulted in severely delayed ischemia-induced myogenesis. Moreover, angiogenesis was also significantly impaired in HSA-Cre(ERT2); Gli3(Flox/Flox) mice, demonstrating that impaired myogenesis indirectly affects ischemia-induced angiogenesis. The role of Gli3 in myocytes was then further investigated. We found that Gli3 promotes myoblast differentiation through myogenic factor 5 regulation. In addition, we found that Gli3 regulates several proangiogenic factors, including thymidine phosphorylase and angiopoietin-1 both in vitro and in vivo, which indirectly promote endothelial cell proliferation and arteriole formation. In addition, we found that Gli3 is upregulated in proliferating myoblasts by the cell cycle-associated transcription factor E2F1. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows for the first time that Gli3-regulated postnatal myogenesis is necessary for muscle repair-associated angiogenesis. Most importantly, it implies that myogenesis drives angiogenesis in the setting of skeletal muscle repair and identifies Gli3 as a potential target for regenerative medicine.

Hedgehog-dependent regulation of angiogenesis and myogenesis is impaired in aged mice.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to further document alteration of signal transduction pathways, more particularly of hedgehog (Hh) signaling, causing impaired ischemic muscle repair in old mice. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We used 12-week-old (young mice) and 20- to 24-month-old C57BL/6 mice (old mice) to investigate the activity of Hh signaling in the setting of hindlimb ischemia-induced angiogenesis and skeletal muscle repair. In this model, delayed ischemic muscle repair observed in old mice was associated with an impaired upregulation of Gli1. Sonic Hh expression was not different in old mice compared with young mice, whereas desert Hh (Dhh) expression was downregulated in the skeletal muscle of old mice both in healthy and ischemic conditions. The rescue of Dhh expression by gene therapy in old mice promoted ischemia-induced angiogenesis and increased nerve density; nevertheless, it failed to promote myogenesis or to increase Gli1 mRNA expression. After further investigation, we found that, in addition to Dhh, smoothened expression was significantly downregulated in old mice. We used smoothened haploinsufficient mice to demonstrate that smoothened knockdown by 50% is sufficient to impair activation of Hh signaling and ischemia-induced muscle repair. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that Hh signaling is impaired in aged mice because of Dhh and smoothened downregulation. Moreover, it shows that hegdehog-dependent regulation of angiogenesis and myogenesis involves distinct mechanisms.

Astrogliosis in multiple sclerosis and neuro-inflammation: what role for the notch pathway?

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system leading to neurodegeneration. It affects 2.3 million people worldwide, generally younger than 50. There is no known cure for the disease, and current treatment options - mainly immunotherapies to limit disease progression - are few and associated with serious side effects. In multiple sclerosis, disruption of the blood-brain barrier is an early event in the pathogenesis of lesions, predisposing to edema, excito-toxicity and inflammatory infiltration into the central nervous system. Recently, the vision of the blood brain barrier structure and integrity has changed and include contributions from all components of the neurovascular unit, among which astrocytes. During neuro-inflammation, astrocytes become reactive. They undergo morphological and molecular changes named "astrogliosis" driving the conversion from acute inflammatory injury to a chronic neurodegenerative state. Astrogliosis mechanisms are minimally explored despite their significance in regulating the autoimmune response during multiple sclerosis. Therefore, in this review, we take stock of the state of knowledge regarding astrogliosis in neuro-inflammation and highlight the central role of NOTCH signaling in the process of astrocyte reactivity. Indeed, a very detailed nomenclature published in nature neurosciences in 2021, listing all the reactive astrocyte markers fully identified in the literature, doesn't cover the NOTCH signaling. Hence, we discuss evidence supporting NOTCH1 receptor as a central regulator of astrogliosis in the pathophysiology of neuro-inflammation, notably multiple sclerosis, in human and experimental models.

Partial Mural Cell Ablation Disrupts Coronary Vasculature Integrity and Induces Systolic Dysfunction.

Background Although the critical role of pericytes in maintaining vascular integrity has been extensively demonstrated in the brain and the retina, little is known about their role in the heart. We aim to investigate structural and functional consequences of partial pericyte depletion (≈60%) in the heart of adult mice. Methods and Results To deplete pericytes in adult mice, we used platelet-derived growth factor receptor ß-Cre/ERT2; RosaDTA mice and compared their phenotype with that of control mice (RosaDTA) chosen among their littermates. Cardiac function was assessed via echocardiography and left ventricular catheterization 1 month after the first tamoxifen injection. We found mice depleted with pericytes had a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and an increased end-diastolic pressure, demonstrating both systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Consistently, mice depleted with pericytes presented a decreased left ventricular contractility and an increased left ventricular relaxation time (dP/dtmin). At the tissue level, mice depleted of pericytes displayed increased coronary endothelium leakage and activation, which was associated with increased CD45+ cell infiltration. Consistent with systolic dysfunction, pericyte depletion was associated with an increased expression of myosin heavy chain 7 and decreased expression of ATPase sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ transporting 2 and connexin 43. More important, coculture assays demonstrated, for the first time, that the decreased expression of connexin 43 is likely attributable to a direct effect of pericytes on cardiomyocytes. Besides, this study reveals that cardiac pericytes may undergo strong remodeling on injury. Conclusions Cardiac pericyte depletion induces both systolic and diastolic dysfunction, suggesting that pericyte dysfunction may contribute to the occurrence of cardiac diseases.

Astrocytic junctional adhesion molecule-A regulates T-cell entry past the glia limitans to promote central nervous system autoimmune attack.

Contact-mediated interactions between the astrocytic endfeet and infiltrating immune cells within the perivascular space are underexplored, yet represent potential regulatory check-points against CNS autoimmune disease and disability. Reactive astrocytes upregulate junctional adhesion molecule-A, an immunoglobulin-like cell surface receptor that binds to T cells via its ligand, the integrin, lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1. Here, we tested the role of astrocytic junctional adhesion molecule-A in regulating CNS autoinflammatory disease. In cell co-cultures, we found that junctional adhesion molecule-A-mediated signalling between astrocytes and T cells increases levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, pro-inflammatory factors driving lymphocyte entry and pathogenicity in multiple sclerosis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of CNS autoimmune disease. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, mice with astrocyte-specific JAM-A deletion (mGFAP:CreJAM-Afl/fl ) exhibit decreased levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2, reduced ability of T cells to infiltrate the CNS parenchyma from the perivascular spaces and a milder histopathological and clinical course of disease compared with wild-type controls (JAM-Afl/fl ). Treatment of wild-type mice with intraperitoneal injection of soluble junctional adhesion molecule-A blocking peptide decreases the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, highlighting the potential of contact-mediated astrocyte-immune cell signalling as a novel translational target against neuroinflammatory disease.

The Normal and Brain Tumor Vasculature: Morphological and Functional Characteristics and Therapeutic Targeting.

Glioblastoma is among the most common tumor of the central nervous system in adults. Overall survival has not significantly improved over the last decade, even with optimizing standard therapeutic care including extent of resection and radio- and chemotherapy. In this article, we review features of the brain vasculature found in healthy cerebral tissue and in glioblastoma. Brain vessels are of various sizes and composed of several vascular cell types. Non-vascular cells such as astrocytes or microglia also interact with the vasculature and play important roles. We also discuss in vitro engineered artificial blood vessels which may represent useful models for better understanding the tumor-vessel interaction. Finally, we summarize results from clinical trials with anti-angiogenic therapy alone or in combination, and discuss the value of these approaches for targeting glioblastoma.

Full-length Dhh and N-terminal Shh act as competitive antagonists to regulate angiogenesis and vascular permeability.

AIMS: The therapeutic potential of Hedgehog (Hh) signalling agonists for vascular diseases is of growing interest. However, molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the role of the Hh signalling in vascular biology remain poorly understood. The purpose of the present article is to clarify some conflicting literature data. METHODS AND RESULTS: With this goal, we have demonstrated that, unexpectedly, ectopically administered N-terminal Sonic Hh (N-Shh) and endogenous endothelial-derived Desert Hh (Dhh) induce opposite effects in endothelial cells (ECs). Notably, endothelial Dhh acts under its full-length soluble form (FL-Dhh) and activates Smoothened in ECs, while N-Shh inhibits it. At molecular level, N-Shh prevents FL-Dhh binding to Patched-1 (Ptch1) demonstrating that N-Shh acts as competitive antagonist to FL-Dhh. Besides, we found that even though FL-Hh ligands and N-Hh ligands all bind Ptch1, they induce distinct Ptch1 localization. Finally, we confirmed that in a pathophysiological setting, i.e. brain inflammation, astrocyte-derived N-Shh acts as a FL-Dhh antagonist. CONCLUSION: The present study highlights for the first time that FL-Dhh and N-Hh ligands have antagonistic properties especially in ECs.

Astrocytic tight junctions control inflammatory CNS lesion pathogenesis.

Lesions and neurologic disability in inflammatory CNS diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) result from the translocation of leukocytes and humoral factors from the vasculature, first across the endothelial blood-brain barrier (BBB) and then across the astrocytic glia limitans (GL). Factors secreted by reactive astrocytes open the BBB by disrupting endothelial tight junctions (TJs), but the mechanisms that control access across the GL are unknown. Here, we report that in inflammatory lesions, a second barrier composed of reactive astrocyte TJs of claudin 1 (CLDN1), CLDN4, and junctional adhesion molecule A (JAM-A) subunits is induced at the GL. In a human coculture model, CLDN4-deficient astrocytes were unable to control lymphocyte segregation. In models of CNS inflammation and MS, mice with astrocyte-specific Cldn4 deletion displayed exacerbated leukocyte and humoral infiltration, neuropathology, motor disability, and mortality. These findings identify a second inducible barrier to CNS entry at the GL. This barrier may be therapeutically targetable in inflammatory CNS disease.