Nascent Endothelium Initiates Th2 Polarization of Asthma.
J Immunol. 2013 Feb 20;
Authors: Asosingh K, Cheng G, Xu W, Savasky BM, Aronica MA, Li X, Erzurum SC
Abstract
Asthma airway remodeling is linked to Th2 inflammation. Angiogenesis is a consistent feature of airway remodeling, but its contribution to pathophysiology remains unclear. We hypothesized that nascent endothelial cells in newly forming vessels are sufficient to initiate Th2-inflammation. Vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is a constitutively expressed endothelial cell adhesion molecule that is exposed in its monomer form on endothelial tip cells prior to adherens junction formation. Abs targeted to VE-cadherin monomers inhibit angiogenesis by blocking this adherens junction formation. In this study, VE-cadherin monomer Ab reduced angiogenesis in the lungs of the allergen-induced murine asthma model. Strikingly, Th2 responses including, IgE production, eosinophil infiltration of the airway, subepithelial fibrosis, mucus metaplasia, and airway-hyperreactivity were also attenuated by VE-cadherin blockade, via mechanisms that blunted endothelial IL-25 and proangiogenic progenitor cell thymic stromal lymphopoietin production. The results identify angiogenic responses in the origins of atopic inflammation.
PMID: 23427249 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]
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