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Published September 1999 | public
Journal Article

Symmetrical Mutant Phenotypes of the Receptor EphB4 and Its Specific Transmembrane Ligand ephrin-B2 in Cardiovascular Development

Abstract

Ephrin-B2 is a transmembrane ligand that is specifically expressed on arteries but not veins and that is essential for cardiovascular development. However, ephrin-B2 is also expressed in nonvascular tissues and interacts with multiple EphB class receptors expressed in both endothelial and nonendothelial cell types. Thus, the identity of the relevant receptor for ephrin-B2 and the site(s) where these molecules interact to control angiogenesis were not clear. Here we show that EphB4, a specific receptor for ephrin-B2, is exclusively expressed by vascular endothelial cells in embryos and is preferentially expressed on veins. A targeted mutation in EphB4 essentially phenocopies the mutation in ephrin-B2. These data indicate that ephrin-B2–EphB4 interactions are intrinsically required in vascular endothelial cells and are consistent with the idea that they mediate bidirectional signaling essential for angiogenesis.

Additional Information

© 1999 by Cell Press. Under an Elsevier user license. Received August 6, 1999; revised August 31, 1999. We thank Emma Dormand for help with confocal microscopy and support, Scott Fraser for access to confocal microscopes, Shirley Pease and the staff of the Transgenic Animal Facility at Caltech for assistance with animal husbandry, Richard Behringer for AB-1 ES and STO 76/7 feeder cells, Gaby Mosconi for lab management, Lan Dinh and Hieu Thi Phan for technical support, and G. Mancuso for administrative assistance. D. J. A. is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023