Wnt5a is required for endothelial differentiation of embryonic stem cells and vascularization via pathways involving both Wnt/beta-catenin and protein kinase C alfa

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Authors	YANG Dong-Hwa YOON Ju-Young LEE Soung-Hoon BRYJA Vítězslav ANDERSSON Emma R. ARENAS Ernest KWON Young-Guen CHOI Kang-Yell
Year of publication	2009
Type	Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source	Circulation Research
MU Faculty or unit	Faculty of Science
Citation
Field	Genetics and molecular biology
Keywords	Wnt5a; embryonic stem cells; beta-catenin; PKC alfa; endothelial defferentiation
Description	In this study, we examined the signaling pathways activated by Wnt5a in endothelial differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells and the function of Wnt5a during vascular development. We first found that Wnt5a(-/-) mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells exhibited a defect in endothelial differentiation, which was rescued by addition of Wnt5a, suggesting that Wnt5a is required for endothelial differentiation of ES cells. Furthermore, a defect in the vascularization of the neural tissue was detected at embryonic day 14.5 in Wnt5a(-/-) mice, implicating Wnt5a in vascular development in vivo. Thus, we conclude that Wnt5a is involved in the endothelial differentiation of ES cells via both Wnt/beta-catenin and PKC signaling pathways and regulates embryonic vascular development.
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