Journal: Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences
Article Title: Protrudin regulates FAK activation, endothelial cell migration and angiogenesis
doi: 10.1007/s00018-022-04251-z
Figure Lengend Snippet: Knockdown of Protrudin impairs activation of focal adhesion kinase. HUVECs were transduced with Protrudin or non-targeting shRNA and incubated for 48 h followed by puromycin selection for 16 h in complete ECGM2 media. a Cells were lysed for immunoblotting using antibodies to pFAK(Tyr397) and GAPDH. The experiments were done thrice; a representative blot is shown. The bar diagram represents relative densitometric values of pFAK(Tyr397) normalized for GAPDH. Data represent mean ± SD for three independent experiments, ** p < 0.01, compared to shNT. b Post-selection shNT or shProtrudin cells were serum-starved for 5 h in ECM2 media containing 0.1%BSA followed by stimulation without ( −) or with ( +) VEGF (50 ng/ml) for 5 min, and lysed for immunoblotting using antibodies to pFAK(Tyr397) (panel 1), total FAK (panel 2); Protrudin (panel 3), actin (panel 4); c pFAK(Tyr861) (upper panel), GAPDH (lower panel). The experiments were done thrice; representative blots are shown. The bar diagrams in ( b , c ) represent relative densitometric values of pFAK(Tyr397) or pFAK(Tyr861) normalized for total FAK and GAPDH, respectively. Data represent mean ± SD for three independent experiments, *** p < 0.001, * p < 0.05 compared to shNT without VEGF stimulation. ## p < 0.01 compared to shNT with VEGF stimulation. d HUVECs were transduced with shProtrudin#2 or non-targeting shRNA as described above for ( a ) and ( b ). Cells were lysed and immunoblotted with anti-pFAK(Tyr 397) (upper panel) or -actin (lower panel). The experiments were done thrice; a representative blot is shown. The bar diagram represents relative densitometric values of pFAK (Tyr397) normalized to actin. Data represent mean ± SD, * p < 0.05 compared to shNT without VEGF stimulation. # p < 0.05 compared to shNT with VEGF stimulation. e Human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were transduced with shProtrudin or non-targeting shRNA as described above. Cells were lysed and immunoblotted using antibodies against pFAK(Tyr 397) (upper panel) and GAPDH (lower panel). The experiments were done thrice; a representative blot is shown. The bar diagrams represent relative densitometric values of pFAK normalized to GAPDH. Data represent mean ± SD, * p < 0.05 compared to shNT without VEGF stimulation. ## p < 0.01 compared to shNT with VEGF stimulation. f Immunoblot showing cytoplasmic, endosomal and plasma membrane fractions of HUVEC transduced with shNT or shProtrudin, serum-starved for 5 h in medium with 0.1% BSA prior to subcellular fractionation as described in Methods. Data represent mean ± SD for three independent experiments, ** p < 0.01, n.s. indicates statistically not significant. The bar diagrams represent relative densitometric values of pFAK or FAK normalized to actin. g HUVECs were seeded on glass coverslips along with control or shProtrudin lentivirus for 48 h in ECGM2 complete media, followed by puromycin selection. Cells were then fixed and stained with Phalloidin-AlexaFluor 594 (actin) or anti-pFAK(Tyr861) and analyzed by confocal microscopy, followed by deconvolution. The experiment was done thrice, and the data are representative of at least 15 image captures per experiment. Bar diagram demonstrates quantification of the percentage of cells with actin stress fibers. 60 cells per condition were analyzed for the quantification, n = 3 independent experiments. Data represent mean ± SD. ** p < 0.01 compared to shNT, two-tailed Student’s t -test
Article Snippet: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and Endothelial Cell Medium 2 (ECM2) along with the supplement mix (ECGM2) were obtained from PromoCell (Heidelberg, DE).
Techniques: Activation Assay, Transduction, shRNA, Incubation, Selection, Western Blot, Fractionation, Staining, Confocal Microscopy, Two Tailed Test