Evaluation of VEGF-Mediated signaling in primary human cells reveals a paracrine action for VEGF in osteoblast-mediated crosstalk to endothelial cells

Clarkin, C E and Emery, R J and Pitsillides, A A and Wheeler-Jones, C P D (2008) Evaluation of VEGF-Mediated signaling in primary human cells reveals a paracrine action for VEGF in osteoblast-mediated crosstalk to endothelial cells. Journal of Cellular Physiology, 214 (2). pp. 537-544.

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Abstract

Communication between endothelial and bone cells is crucial for controlling vascular supply during bone growth, remodeling, and repair but the molecular mechanisms coordinating this intercellular crosstalk remain ill-defined. We have used primary human and rat long bone-derived osteoblast-like cells (HOB and LOB) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to interrogate the potential autocrine/paracrine role of vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) in osteoblast:endothelial cell (OB:EC) communication and examined whether Prostaglandins (PG), known modulators of both OB and EC behavior, modify VEGF production. We found that the stable metabolite of PGI(2), 6-keto-PGF(1 alpha), and PGE(2), induced a concentration-dependent increase in VEGF release by HOBs but not ECs. In ECs, VEGF promoted early ERK 1/2 activation, late cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein induction, and release of 6-keto-PGF(1 alpha),. In marked contrast, no significant modulation of these events was observed in HOBs exposed to VEGF, but LOBs clearly exhibited COX-dependent prostanoid release (10-fold less than EC) following VEGF treatment. A low level of osteoblast-like cell responsiveness to exogenous VEGF was supported by VEGFR2/FIk-1 immunolabelling and by blockade of VEGF-mediated prostanoid generation by a VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). HOB alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was increased following long-term non-contact co-culture with ECs and exposure of ECs to VEGF in this system further increased OB-like cell differentiation and markedly enhanced prostanoid release. Our studies confirm a paracrine EC-mediated effect of VEGF on OB-like cell behavior and are the first supporting a model in which prostanoids may facilitate this unidirectional VEGF-driven OB:EC communication. These findings may offer novel regimes for modulating pathological bone remodeling anomalies through the control of the closely coupled vascular supply.

Item Type:	Article
RVC Publication Type:	Research (full) paper
WoS ID:	000252163400028
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1002/jcp.21234
Departments:	Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Research Programmes:	Comparative Physiology & Medicine > Musculoskeletal Biology
Depositing User:	RVC Auto-import
Last Modified:	21 Feb 2020 11:57
URI:	http://researchonline.rvc.ac.uk/id/eprint/1396