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(Circulation Research. 2008;102:1448.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

A Novel Mechanism of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Regulation by Notch

Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-β Expression?

David S. Weber

From the Department of Physiology, University of South Alabama, Mobile.

Correspondence to David S. Weber, PhD, University of South Alabama, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, 307 N University Blvd, MSB 3074, Mobile, AL 36604. E-mail dweber@usouthal.edu

See related article, pages 1483–1491

Key Words: Notch • PDGF • VSMC phenotype

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

The Notch family of receptors, Notch1 to -4, are heterodimer transmembrane proteins, consisting of an extracellular domain and a noncovalently linked intracellular domain (ICD). Upon interaction with the DSL family of proteins (Jagged, Delta-like) on neighboring cells, Notch undergoes proteolytic cleavage, which frees the ICD from the plasma membrane. This results in translocation of the ICD into the nucleus, where it forms a complex with the CSL family of transcriptional repressors (CBF1/RBP-Jk), removing the repression and allowing for target gene (Hes, Hey) transcription.^1,2

Tissue distribution of the Notch proteins varies widely. Notch1 and -4 are predominantly endothelial, prominent in both arteries and veins, and present in all stages of development (embryonic to adult); the expression of Notch2 is typically confined to pulmonary endothelium, but Notch3 is primarily expressed in adult arterial vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in large conduit, pulmonary, and systemic resistance arteries.³ This specific pattern of temporal and spatial distribution correlate to diverse functions of the Notch family in vascular development and physiology in vertebrates reported to date.⁴

In the cardiovascular system, Notch signaling plays a role in several aspects of vascular development, including vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, differentiation, vascular remodeling, and VSMC maturation. Notch1 and -4 signaling appears critical in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis during early development, when it interacts with vascular endothelial growth factor signaling to specify artery–vein differentiation of endothelial cells (ECs). Transgenic mice deficient for Notch1 fail to undergo embryonic angiogenic remodeling, and vascular development is arrested at the primitive undifferentiated plexus, resulting in an embryonic lethal . . . [Full Text of this Article]