Adventitial Sca1+Cells Transduced With ETV2 Are Committed to the Endothelial Fate and Improve Vascular Remodeling After Injury

作者：Le Bras Alexandra; Yu Baoqi; Bhaloo Shirin Issa; Hong Xuechong; Zhang Zhongyi; Hu Yanhua; Xu Qingbo

来源：Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 2018, 38(1): 232-244.

DOI：10.1161/ATVBAHA.117.309853

• adventitia
• cell differentiation
• stem cells
• vascular diseases
• vascular remodeling

OBJECTIVE: Vascular adventitial Sca1(+) (stem cell antigen-1) progenitor cells preferentially differentiate into smooth muscle cells, which contribute to vascular remodeling and neointima formation in vessel grafts. Therefore, directing the differentiation of Sca1(+) cells toward the endothelial lineage could represent a new therapeutic strategy against vascular disease. APPROACH AND RESULTS: We thus developed a fast, reproducible protocol based on the single-gene transfer of ETV2 (ETS variant 2) to differentiate Sca1(+) cells toward the endothelial fate and studied the effect of cell conversion on vascular hyperplasia in a model of endothelial injury. After ETV2 transduction, Sca1(+) adventitial cells presented a significant increase in the expression of early endothelial cell genes, including VE-cadherin, Flk-1, and Tie2 at the mRNA and protein levels. ETV2 overexpression also induced the downregulation of a panel of smooth muscle cell and mesenchymal genes through epigenetic regulations, by decreasing the expression of DNA-modifying enzymes ten-eleven translocation dioxygenases. Adventitial Sca1(+) cells grafted on the adventitial side of wire-injured femoral arteries increased vascular wall hyperplasia compared with control arteries with no grafted cells. Arteries seeded with ETV2-transduced cells, on the contrary, showed reduced hyperplasia compared with control. CONCLUSIONS: These data give evidence that the genetic manipulation of vascular progenitors is a promising approach to improve vascular function after endothelial injury.

• 出版日期2018-1