Hyaluronic acid turnover controls the severity of cerebral cavernous malformations in bioengineered human micro-vessels.

Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are vascular lesions that predominantly form in blood vessels of the central nervous system upon loss of the CCM multimeric protein complex. The endothelial cells within CCM lesions are characterized by overactive MEKK3 kinase and KLF2/4 transcription factor signaling, leading to pathological changes such as increased endothelial cell spreading and reduced junctional integrity. Concomitant to aberrant endothelial cell signaling, non-autonomous signals from the extracellular matrix (ECM) have also been implicated in CCM lesion growth and these factors might explain why CCM lesions mainly develop in the central nervous system. Here, we adapted a three-dimensional microfluidic system to examine CCM1 deficient human micro-vessels in distinctive extracellular matrices. We validate that pathological hallmarks are maintained in this model. We further show that key genes responsible for homeostasis of hyaluronic acid, a major extracellular matrix component of the central nervous system, are dysregulated in CCM. Supplementing the matrix in our model with distinct forms of hyaluronic acid inhibits pathological cell spreading and rescues barrier function. Hyaluronic acid acts by dampening cell-matrix adhesion signaling in CCM, either downstream or in parallel of KLF2/4. This study provides a proof-of-principle that ECM embedded 3D microfluidic models are ideally suited to identify how changes in ECM structure and signaling impact vascular malformations.

Dynamically regulated focal adhesions coordinate endothelial cell remodelling in developing vasculature.

The assembly of a mature vascular network involves coordinated endothelial cell (EC) shape changes, including the process of EC elongation. How EC elongation is dynamically regulated in vivo is not fully understood. Here, we have generated a zebrafish mutant that is deficient for the integrin adaptor protein Talin 1 (Tln1). Using a new focal adhesion (FA) marker line expressing endothelial Vinculinb-eGFP, we demonstrate that EC FAs function dynamically and are lost in our tln1 mutants, allowing us to uncouple the primary roles of FAs in EC morphogenesis from the secondary effects that occur due to systemic vessel failure or loss of blood flow. Tln1 loss led to compromised F-actin rearrangements, perturbed EC elongation and disrupted cell-cell junction linearisation in vessel remodelling. Finally, chemical induction of actin polymerisation restored actin dynamics and EC elongation during vascular morphogenesis. Together, we identify that FAs are essential for EC elongation and junction linearisation in flow-pressured vessels and that they influence actin polymerisation in cellular morphogenesis. These observations can explain the severely compromised vessel beds and vascular leakage observed in mutant models that lack integrin signalling. This article has an associated 'The people behind the papers' interview.

Live-imaging of endothelial Erk activity reveals dynamic and sequential signalling events during regenerative angiogenesis.

The formation of new blood vessel networks occurs via angiogenesis during development, tissue repair, and disease. Angiogenesis is regulated by intracellular endothelial signalling pathways, induced downstream of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) and their receptors (VEGFRs). A major challenge in understanding angiogenesis is interpreting how signalling events occur dynamically within endothelial cell populations during sprouting, proliferation, and migration. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) is a central downstream effector of Vegf-signalling and reports the signalling that drives angiogenesis. We generated a vascular Erk biosensor transgenic line in zebrafish using a kinase translocation reporter that allows live-imaging of Erk-signalling dynamics. We demonstrate the utility of this line to live-image Erk activity during physiologically relevant angiogenic events. Further, we reveal dynamic and sequential endothelial cell Erk-signalling events following blood vessel wounding. Initial signalling is dependent upon Ca2+ in the earliest responding endothelial cells, but is independent of Vegfr-signalling and local inflammation. The sustained regenerative response, however, involves a Vegfr-dependent mechanism that initiates concomitantly with the wound inflammatory response. This work reveals a highly dynamic sequence of signalling events in regenerative angiogenesis and validates a new resource for the study of vascular Erk-signalling in real-time.