Conditional knockout of focal adhesion kinase in endothelial cells reveals its role in angiogenesis and vascular development in late embryogenesis

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a critical mediator of signal transduction by integrins and growth factor receptors in a variety of cells including endothelial cells (ECs). Here, we describe EC-specific knockout of FAK using a Cre-loxP approach. In contrast to the total FAK knockout, deletion of FAK specifically in ECs did not affect early embryonic development including normal vasculogenesis. However, in late embryogenesis, FAK deletion in the ECs led to defective angiogenesis in the embryos, yolk sac, and placenta, impaired vasculature and associated hemorrhage, edema, and developmental delay, and late embryonic lethal phenotype. Histologically, ECs and blood vessels in the mutant embryos present a disorganized, detached, and apoptotic appearance. Consistent with these phenotypes, deletion of FAK in ECs isolated from the floxed FAK mice led to reduced tubulogenesis, cell survival, proliferation, and migration in vitro. Together, these results strongly suggest a role of FAK in angiogenesis and vascular development due to its essential function in the regulation of multiple EC activities

Induced DNA recombination by Cre recombinase protein transduction

Cre is a DNA recombinase that recognizes 34 base-pair loxP sites of recombination. We have developed a cell-permeable Cre recombinase, TATCre, that is capable of mediating deletion of loxP-flanked targets by simply adding TATCre to cell cultures. Thus, TATCre allows efficient induced DNA recombination without the use of a Cre recombinase transgene or any other genetic material and should prove useful for the genetic manipulation of a wide variety of cell types that have been engineered to possess loxP sites

VCAM-1 expression in adult hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells is controlled by tissue-inductive signals and reflects their developmental origin

Although expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) in endothelial cells and its functional implications have been previously appreciated, VCAM-1 expression in other than endothelial cells, especially hematopoietic cells, has been recently recognized and has not been explored in detail. Using normal mice and mice with a conditional ablation of VCAM-1 through a Tie2-driven cre transgene, we have studied the biodistribution and the pattern of VCAM-1 expression in circulating versus tissue-residing cells before and after their enforced mobilization. In the normal mouse, both at basal hematopoiesis or following mobilization, VCAM-1 expression is confined to myeloid cells residing in hematopoietic tissues, whereas free cells in circulation or in body cavities are devoid of VCAM-1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein. However, following culture, proliferating myeloid cells, but not lymphoid cells, express VCAM-1. In the VCAM-1–ablated mouse, there is an increase in circulating progenitors as a consequence of their ongoing release from bone marrow, a process enhanced by splenectomy. We postulate that the main mechanism leading to their release is the ablation of VCAM-1 by fibroblastic and by endothelial cells. Ablation of VCAM-1 in fibroblasts by Tie2-driven cre is a novel finding and likely denotes their developmental ancestry by Tie2-expressing (mesenchymal?) progenitor cells during development