TY - JOUR TI - XRASGRP2 is essential for blood vessel formation during Xenopus development AU - Suzuki, Kan AU - Takahashi, Shuji AU - Haramoto, Yoshikazu AU - Onuma, Yasuko AU - Nagamine, Kentaro AU - Okabayashi, Koji AU - Hashizume, Kohei AU - Iwanaka, Tadashi AU - Asashima, Makoto T2 - The International Journal of Developmental Biology AB - Ras guanyl nucleotide-releasing protein 2 (RASGRP2), one of the Ras guanine exchange factors, is implicated as a critical regulator of inside-out integrin activation in human lymphocytes, neutrophils and platelets. However, the activities of this protein in endothelial cells remain unclear. In the current study, we identify a physiological function in blood vessel formation for XRASGRP2, which is the Xenopus ortholog of mammalian RASGRP2. XRASGRP2 over-expression induced ectopic vascular formation, and XRASGRP2-knockdown embryos showed delayed vascular development. We also investigated the upstream signaling of XRASGRP2 in endothelium formation. XRASGRP2 expression was up-regulated in the presence of VEGF-A and down-regulated following VEGF-A depletion. XRASGRP2 knockdown abolished the ectopic induction of endothelial cells by VEGF-A in the posterior ventral blood island. These results suggest that XRASGRP2 is essential for vascular formation during Xenopus development. PY - 2010 DO - 10.1387/ijdb.092929ks VL - 54 IS - 4 SP - 609 EP - 615 J2 - Int. J. Dev. Biol. LA - en SN - 0214-6282 SN - 1696-3547 UR - https://ijdb.ehu.eus/article/092929ks Y2 - 2024/04/29/08:15:56 ER -