Angiopoietin-1 Requires p190 RhoGAP to Protect against Vascular Leakage in Vivo*
- Tadanori Mammoto‡1,
- Samir M. Parikh‡1,
- Akiko Mammoto§1,
- Diana Gallagher‡,
- Barden Chan‡,
- Gustavo Mostoslavsky¶,
- Donald E. Ingber§ and
- Vikas P. Sukhatme‡2
- ‡Department of Medicine, Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology and Center for Vascular Biology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, §Vascular Biology Program, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the ¶Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Institute of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
- 2 To whom correspondence may be addressed: Dept. of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., RW 563, Boston, MA 02215. Tel.: 617-667-2105; Fax: 617-667-7851; E-mail: vsukhatm{at}bidmc.harvard.edu.
Abstract
Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), a ligand of the endothelium-specific receptor Tie-2, inhibits permeability in the mature vasculature, but the mechanism remains unknown. Here we show that Ang-1 signals Rho family GTPases to organize the cytoskeleton into a junction-fortifying arrangement that enhances the permeability barrier function of the endothelium. Ang-1 phosphorylates Tie-2 and its downstream effector phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. This induces activation of one endogenous GTPase, Rac1, and inhibition of another, RhoA. Loss of either part of this dual effect abrogates the cytoskeletal and anti-permeability actions of Ang-1, suggesting that coordinated GTPase regulation is necessary for the vessel-sealing effects of Ang-1. p190 RhoGAP, a GTPase regulatory protein, provides this coordinating function as it is phosphorylated by Ang-1 treatment, requires Rac1 activation, and is necessary for RhoA inhibition. Ang-1 prevents the cytoskeletal and pro-permeability effects of endotoxin but requires p190 RhoGAP to do so. Treatment with p190 RhoGAP small interfering RNA completely abolishes the ability of Ang-1 to rescue endotoxemia-induced pulmonary vascular leak and inflammation in mice. We conclude that Ang-1 prevents vascular permeability by regulating the endothelial cytoskeleton through coordinated and opposite effects on the Rho GTPases Rac1 and RhoA. By linking Rac1 activation and RhoA inhibition, p190 RhoGAP is critical to the protective effects of Ang-1 against endotoxin. These results provide mechanistic evidence that targeting the endothelium through Tie-2 may offer specific therapeutic strategies in life-threatening endotoxemic conditions such as sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Footnotes
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↵3 The abbreviations used are: Ang-1, angiopoietin-1; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; EC, endothelial cell; HMVEC-L, human microvascular endothelial cells from lung; PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; siRNA, small interfering RNA; Ab, antibody; FBS, fetal bovine serum; MLC-p, myosin light chain phosphorylation.
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↵* This work was supported by seed funds from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (to V. P. S.) and National Institutes of Health Grants CA45548 and CA55833 (to D. E. I.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
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The on-line version of this article (available at http://www.jbc.org) contains supplemental Data A–F, Methods, and Figs. 1–3.
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↵1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
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- Received March 13, 2007.
- Revision received May 8, 2007.
