화학공학소재연구정보센터
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol.363, No.2, 336-341, 2007
Aminopeptidase N/CD13 induces angiogenesis through interaction with a pro-angiogenic protein, galectin-3
Aminopeptidase N/CD 13 is an endothelial cell surface ectoenzyme involved in one of the initial steps of angiogenesis. However, little is known how APN induces angiogenesis in endothelial cells. Using human cDNA library-encoding phage display bioparming method, we here identified a galactoside-specific lectin family protein, galectin-3, as an interacting protein of APN. Galectin-3 specifically binds to APN both in vitro and in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in a carbohydrate recognition-dependent manner. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrates that both APN and galectin-3 are exclusively coexpressed during the angiogenic stage of mouse forebrain development. Finally, exogenous addition of galectin-3 into HUVECs induced angiogenesis in an APN-dependent manner, implying that APN is a crucial mediator of galectin- 3 -induced angiogenesis in endothelial cells. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.