Regulation of Partial and Reversible Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Angiogenesis

Jennifer S Fang; Nan W Hultgren; Christopher C W Hughes

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.702021

Regulation of Partial and Reversible Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Angiogenesis

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Oct 7:9:702021. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.702021. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jennifer S Fang¹, Nan W Hultgren², Christopher C W Hughes^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.
² Department of Ophthalmology, Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.

Abstract

During development and in several diseases, endothelial cells (EC) can undergo complete endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndoMT or EndMT) to generate endothelial-derived mesenchymal cells. Emerging evidence suggests that ECs can also undergo a partial EndoMT to generate cells with intermediate endothelial- and mesenchymal-character. This partial EndoMT event is transient, reversible, and supports both developmental and pathological angiogenesis. Here, we discuss possible regulatory mechanisms that may control the EndoMT program to dictate whether cells undergo complete or partial mesenchymal transition, and we further consider how these pathways might be targeted therapeutically in cancer.

Keywords: EndMT; EndoMT; angiogenesis; cell identity; cell plasticity; endothelial; mesenchymal; partial EndoMT.