Shear-Stress Sensitive Inwardly-Rectifying K Channels Regulate Developmental Retinal Angiogenesis by Vessel Regression.

Background/aims: Shear stress plays major roles in developmental angiogenesis, particularly in blood vessel remodeling and maturation but little is known about the shear stress sensors involved in this process. Our recent study identified endothelial Kir2.1 channels as major contributors to flow-induced vasodilation, a hallmark of the endothelial flow response.

Kruppel-like factor 4 regulates developmental angiogenesis through disruption of the RBP-J-NICD-MAML complex in intron 3 of Dll4.

Angiogenesis is a multistep process that requires highly regulated endothelial cell (EC) behavior. The transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a critical regulator of several basic EC functions; we have recently shown that KLF4 disturbs pathological (tumor) angiogenesis by mediating the expression of members of VEGF and Notch signaling pathways. Notch signaling is central to orchestration of sprouting angiogenesis but little is known about the upstream regulation of Notch itself.

A conserved KLF-autophagy pathway modulates nematode lifespan and mammalian age-associated vascular dysfunction.

Loss of protein and organelle quality control secondary to reduced autophagy is a hallmark of aging. However, the physiologic and molecular regulation of autophagy in long-lived organisms remains incompletely understood. Here we show that the Kruppel-like family of transcription factors are important regulators of autophagy and healthspan in C.

ORAI1 Activates Proliferation of Lymphatic Endothelial Cells in Response to Laminar Flow Through Krüppel-Like Factors 2 and 4.

Rationale: Lymphatic vessels function to drain interstitial fluid from a variety of tissues. Although shear stress generated by fluid flow is known to trigger lymphatic expansion and remodeling, the molecular basis underlying flow-induced lymphatic growth is unknown.

Objective: We aimed to gain a better understanding of the mechanism by which laminar shear stress activates lymphatic proliferation.

p58(IPK) suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation and IL-1β production via inhibition of PKR in macrophages.

The NLRP3 inflammasome activation is a key signaling event for activation and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β from macrophages. p58(IPK) is a molecular chaperone that regulates protein homeostasis through inhibiting eIF-2α kinases including double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), which has been recently implicated in inflammasome activation. Herein we investigate the role of p58(IPK) in TLR4 signaling and inflammasome activation in macrophages.

Identification of p58IPK as a novel neuroprotective factor for retinal neurons.

Purpose: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident chaperone protein p58(IPK) plays a vital role in regulation of protein folding and biosynthesis. The goal of this study was to examine the role of p58(IPK) in retinal neuronal cells under normal and stressed conditions.

Methods: Retinal expression of p58(IPK), retinal morphology, apoptosis, ER stress, and apoptotic gene expression were examined in p58(IPK) knockout (KO) and/or wild-type (WT) mice with or without intravitreal injection of N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA).