Fascin 1 is dispensable for developmental and tumour angiogenesis

Ma, Y., Reynolds, L. E., Li, A., Stevenson, R. P., Hodivala-Dilke, K. M., Yamashiro, S. and Machesky, L. M. (2013) Fascin 1 is dispensable for developmental and tumour angiogenesis. Biology Open, 2(11), pp. 1187-1191. (doi: 10.1242/bio.20136031) (PMID:24244855) (PMCID:PMC3828765)

Abstract

The actin bundling protein fascin 1 is not expressed in adult epithelial tissues, but during development it is transiently expressed in many different cell types, and later in adults it is expressed in a subset of immune cells, nervous tissues, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and pericytes. In contrast to the wealth of knowledge about the role of fascin 1 in cancer cell migration and invasion, little is known about the involvement of fascin 1 in angiogenesis. We speculated that as angiogenesis involves migration and invasion of tissues by endothelial cells, fascin 1 might have a role in both normal and tumour angiogenesis. Here, we provide evidence that loss of fascin 1 causes relatively minor reductions to angiogenesis during embryonic, postnatal and cancerous development by examining E12.5 hindbrains, postnatal retinas and B16F0 tumour cell allografts in fascin 1-null mice. We also find that in fascin 1 null tissues, endothelial cells display reduced filopodia formation during sprouting. We thus propose that fascin 1 expression promotes angiogenesis via filopodia formation, but is largely dispensable for both normal and tumour angiogenesis.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Li, Mr Ang and Ma, Dr Yafeng and Machesky, Professor Laura and Stevenson, Dr Richard
• Authors: Ma, Y., Reynolds, L. E., Li, A., Stevenson, R. P., Hodivala-Dilke, K. M., Yamashiro, S., and Machesky, L. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: Biology Open
• Publisher: Company of Biologists
• ISSN: 2046-6390
• ISSN (Online): 2046-6390
• Published Online: 27 September 2013
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2013 The Company of Biologists Ltd
• First Published: First published in Biology Open 2(11): 1187-1191
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License