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Rahman HNA, Wu H, Dong Y, Pasula S, Wen A, Sun Y, Brophy ML, Tessneer KL, Cai X, McManus J, Chang B, Kwak S, Rahman NS, Xu W, Fernandes C, Mcdaniel JM, Xia L, Smith L, Srinivasan RS, Chen H. Selective Targeting of a Novel Epsin-VEGFR2 Interaction Promotes VEGF-Mediated Angiogenesis. Circ Res 2016; 118:957-969. [PMID: 26879230 DOI: 10.1161/circresaha.115.307679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2015] [Accepted: 02/12/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
RATIONALE We previously reported that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced binding of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) to epsins 1 and 2 triggers VEGFR2 degradation and attenuates VEGF signaling. The epsin ubiquitin interacting motif (UIM) was shown to be required for the interaction with VEGFR2. However, the molecular determinants that govern how epsin specifically interacts with and regulates VEGFR2 were unknown. OBJECTIVE The goals for the present study were as follows: (1) to identify critical molecular determinants that drive the specificity of the epsin and VEGFR2 interaction and (2) to ascertain whether such determinants were critical for physiological angiogenesis in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS Structural modeling uncovered 2 novel binding surfaces within VEGFR2 that mediate specific interactions with epsin UIM. Three glutamic acid residues in epsin UIM were found to interact with residues in VEGFR2. Furthermore, we found that the VEGF-induced VEGFR2-epsin interaction promoted casitas B-lineage lymphoma-mediated ubiquitination of epsin, and uncovered a previously unappreciated ubiquitin-binding surface within VEGFR2. Mutational analysis revealed that the VEGFR2-epsin interaction is supported by VEGFR2 interacting specifically with the UIM and with ubiquitinated epsin. An epsin UIM peptide, but not a mutant UIM peptide, potentiated endothelial cell proliferation, migration and angiogenic properties in vitro, increased postnatal retinal angiogenesis, and enhanced VEGF-induced physiological angiogenesis and wound healing. CONCLUSIONS Distinct residues in the epsin UIM and VEGFR2 mediate specific interactions between epsin and VEGFR2, in addition to UIM recognition of ubiquitin moieties on VEGFR2. These novel interactions are critical for pathophysiological angiogenesis, suggesting that these sites could be selectively targeted by therapeutics to modulate angiogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- H N Ashiqur Rahman
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Hao Wu
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Yunzhou Dong
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Satish Pasula
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Aiyun Wen
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Ye Sun
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Megan L Brophy
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Kandice L Tessneer
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Xiaofeng Cai
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - John McManus
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Baojun Chang
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Sukyoung Kwak
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Negar S Rahman
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Wenjia Xu
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Conrad Fernandes
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - John Michael Mcdaniel
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Lijun Xia
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Lois Smith
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - R Sathish Srinivasan
- Cardiovascular Biology Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma, OK 73104, USA
| | - Hong Chen
- Vascular Biology Program, Karp Family Research Labs #12.214, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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