Snodgrass, R.O., Govindpani, K. orcid.org/0000-0003-3796-1983, Plant, K. et al. (6 more authors) (2023) Therapeutic targeting of vascular malformation in a zebrafish model of hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia. Disease Models & Mechanisms, 16 (4). dmm049567. ISSN 1754-8403
Abstract
Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) causes arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in multiple organs to cause bleeding, neurological and other complications. HHT is caused by mutations in the BMP co-receptor endoglin. We characterised a range of vascular phenotypes in embryonic and adult endoglin mutant zebrafish and the effect of inhibiting different pathways downstream of Vegf signalling. Adult endoglin mutant zebrafish developed skin AVMs, retinal vascular abnormalities and cardiac enlargement. Embryonic endoglin mutants developed an enlarged basilar artery (similar to the previously described enlarged aorta and cardinal vein) and larger numbers of endothelial membrane cysts (kugeln) on cerebral vessels. Vegf inhibition prevented these embryonic phenotypes, leading us to investigate specific Vegf signalling pathways. Inhibiting mTOR or MEK pathways prevented abnormal trunk and cerebral vasculature phenotypes, whereas inhibiting Nos or Mapk pathways had no effect. Combined subtherapeutic mTOR and MEK inhibition prevented vascular abnormalities, confirming synergy between these pathways in HHT. These results indicate that the HHT-like phenotype in zebrafish endoglin mutants can be mitigated through modulation of Vegf signalling. Combined low-dose MEK and mTOR pathway inhibition could represent a novel therapeutic strategy in HHT.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Angiogenesis; Endoglin; HHT; VEGF; Zebrafish |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION PG/20/10017 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Apr 2023 09:10 |
Last Modified: | 12 Apr 2023 09:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | The Company of Biologists |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1242/dmm.049567 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:197972 |