Identification of New Markers of Angiogenic Sprouting Using Transcriptomics: New Role for RND3.

Background: New blood vessel formation requires endothelial cells to transition from a quiescent to an invasive phenotype. Transcriptional changes are vital for this switch, but a comprehensive genome-wide approach focused exclusively on endothelial cell sprout initiation has not been reported.

Methods: Using a model of human endothelial cell sprout initiation, we developed a protocol to physically separate cells that initiate the process of new blood vessel formation (invading cells) from noninvading cells.