Angiogenic peptides improve blood flow and promote capillary growth in a diabetic and ischaemic mouse model.

Objectives: It is a common clinical observation that collateral vessel development is impaired in diabetic patients with ischaemic vascular diseases. Consequently, alternative revascularisation strategies in diabetic patients are needed. This study presents the effect and mechanism of new peptide therapeutic angiogenesis in an ischaemic and diabetic mouse model.

Activation of GRP78 on endothelial cell membranes by an ADAM15-derived peptide induces angiogenesis.

Impaired angiogenesis is one of the features of ischemic diseases. We have previously identified, by screening a phage display peptide library, a peptide that induces angiogenesis in endothelial cells under hypoxic conditions by binding the cell's membrane heat shock protein GRP78. Protein data base search identified 4 amino acids (HWRR) of that synthetic peptide present on the ADAM15 metalloprotease domain, a protein considered to be involved in neovascularization.