Fig. 4: LTBP4 facilitates angiogenesis in HUVECS and HK-2 cells.
From: LTBP4 affects renal fibrosis by influencing angiogenesis and altering mitochondrial structure
Conditioned media (CM) collected from Mock (CM-Mock) or LTBP4-overexpressing HEK293T cells (CM-LTBP4) were used to treat human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human proximal tubule HK-2 cells for 48 h, and tube areas and angiogenic factors were studied. A Representative images of tube formation in HUVECs. Control: HUVECs were treated with a regular growth medium. Scale bars, 400 μm. The results are from three independent experiments. B Densitometric analyses of tube areas in three groups are shown. C, D In proteomic profiling analysis, dot blot profiling for 55 angiogenesis-related proteins showed relatively increasing expression of proangiogenic factors, including VEGF, EGF, angiopoietin-2 and endothelin-1. E Relative expression of VEGFRs and VEGF in HUVECs treated with CM-Mock and CM-LTBP4. CM-LTBP4 stimulated VEGFRs and VEGFB expression. F, G Effect of overexpression of LTBP4 in HK-2 cells. In normoxia, LTBP4 promoted VEGFB expression while, in hypoxia, LTBP4 enhanced VEGFA expression. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; VEGF vascular endothelial growth factor, EGF epidermal growth factor, VEGFA vascular endothelial growth factor A, VEGFB vascular endothelial growth factor B, VEGFR1 vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1, VEGFR2 vascular endothelial growth factor 2.
