TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kleefeldt, Florian
A1  - Bömmel, Heike
A1  - Broede, Britta
A1  - Thomsen, Michael
A1  - Pfeiffer, Verena
A1  - Wörsdörfer, Philipp
A1  - Karnati, Srikanth
A1  - Wagner, Nicole
A1  - Rueckschloss, Uwe
A1  - Ergün, Süleyman
T1  - Aging‐related carcinoembryonic antigen‐related cell adhesion molecule 1 signaling promotes vascular dysfunction
JF  - Aging Cell
N2  - Aging is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and therefore of particular interest for the prevention of cardiovascular events. However, the mechanisms underlying vascular aging are not well understood. Since carcinoembryonic antigen‐related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) is crucially involved in vascular homeostasis, we sought to identify the role of CEACAM1 in vascular aging. Using human internal thoracic artery and murine aorta, we show that CEACAM1 is upregulated in the course of vascular aging. Further analyses demonstrated that TNF‐α is CEACAM1‐dependently upregulated in the aging vasculature. Vice versa, TNF‐α induces CEACAM1 expression. This results in a feed‐forward loop in the aging vasculature that maintains a chronic pro‐inflammatory milieu. Furthermore, we demonstrate that age‐associated vascular alterations, that is, increased oxidative stress and vascular fibrosis, due to increased medial collagen deposition crucially depend on the presence of CEACAM1. Additionally, age‐dependent upregulation of vascular CEACAM1 expression contributes to endothelial barrier impairment, putatively via increased VEGF/VEGFR‐2 signaling. Consequently, aging‐related upregulation of vascular CEACAM1 expression results in endothelial dysfunction that may promote atherosclerotic plaque formation in the presence of additional risk factors. Our data suggest that CEACAM1 might represent an attractive target in order to delay physiological aging and therefore the transition to vascular disorders such as atherosclerosis.
KW  - aging
KW  - anti‐aging
KW  - cytokines
KW  - inflammation
KW  - mouse
KW  - reactive oxygen species
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201231
VL  - 2019
IS  - 18
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kleefeldt, Florian
A1  - Upcin, Berin
A1  - Bömmel, Heike
A1  - Schulz, Christian
A1  - Eckner, Georg
A1  - Allmanritter, Jan
A1  - Bauer, Jochen
A1  - Braunger, Barbara
A1  - Rueckschloss, Uwe
A1  - Ergün, Süleyman
T1  - Bone marrow-independent adventitial macrophage progenitor cells contribute to angiogenesis
JF  - Cell Death & Disease
N2  - Pathological angiogenesis promotes tumor growth, metastasis, and atherosclerotic plaque rupture. Macrophages are key players in these processes. However, whether these macrophages differentiate from bone marrow-derived monocytes or from local vascular wall-resident stem and progenitor cells (VW-SCs) is an unresolved issue of angiogenesis. To answer this question, we analyzed vascular sprouting and alterations in aortic cell populations in mouse aortic ring assays (ARA). ARA culture leads to the generation of large numbers of macrophages, especially within the aortic adventitia. Using immunohistochemical fate-mapping and genetic in vivo-labeling approaches we show that 60% of these macrophages differentiate from bone marrow-independent Ly6c\(^{+}\)/Sca-1\(^{+}\) adventitial progenitor cells. Analysis of the NCX\(^{−/-}\) mouse model that genetically lacks embryonic circulation and yolk sac perfusion indicates that at least some of those progenitor cells arise yolk sac-independent. Macrophages represent the main source of VEGF in ARA that vice versa promotes the generation of additional macrophages thereby creating a pro-angiogenetic feedforward loop. Additionally, macrophage-derived VEGF activates CD34\(^{+}\) progenitor cells within the adventitial vasculogenic zone to differentiate into CD31\(^{+}\) endothelial cells. Consequently, depletion of macrophages and VEGFR2 antagonism drastically reduce vascular sprouting activity in ARA. In summary, we show that angiogenic activation induces differentiation of macrophages from bone marrow-derived as well as from bone marrow-independent VW-SCs. The latter ones are at least partially yolk sac-independent, too. Those VW-SC-derived macrophages critically contribute to angiogenesis, making them an attractive target to interfere with pathological angiogenesis in cancer and atherosclerosis as well as with regenerative angiogenesis in ischemic cardiovascular disorders.
KW  - macrophages
KW  - angiogenesis
KW  - bone marrow-derived monocytes
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-299724
VL  - 13
IS  - 3
ER  -