Santiago FS, Atkins DG, Khachigian LM. Vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and regrowth after mechanical injury in vitro are Egr-1/NGFI-A-dependent.
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY 1999;
155:897-905. [PMID:
10487847 PMCID:
PMC1866910 DOI:
10.1016/s0002-9440(10)65189-9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation is a key event in renarrowing of blood vessels after balloon angioplasty. Mechanical injury imparted to the arterial wall in experimental models induces the expression of the immediate-early gene, egr-1. Egr-1 binds to and activates expression from the proximal promoters of multiple genes whose products can, in turn, influence the vascular response to injury. Here, we used antisense strategies in vitro to inhibit rat vascular SMC proliferation by directly targeting Egr-1. A series of phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotides of 15 base length and complementary to various theoretically accessible regions within Egr-1 mRNA were synthesized and assessed for their ability to selectively inhibit SMC proliferation in an Egr-1-dependent manner. Western blot analysis revealed that two oligonucleotides, AS2 and E11, inhibited Egr-1 synthesis in cells exposed to serum without affecting levels of the zinc finger protein Sp1. AS2 and E11 inhibited serum-inducible [(3)H]thymidine incorporation into DNA, as well as serum stimulation of total cell numbers. Size-matched phosphorothioate oligonucleotides with random, scrambled, sense or mismatch sequences failed to inhibit. Antisense Egr-1 inhibition was nontoxic and reversible. These oligonucleotides also inhibited SMC regrowth after mechanical injury in vitro. Egr-1 thus plays a key regulatory role in SMC proliferation and repair following injury.
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