High impact information on Vezf1

• Vascular endothelial zinc finger-1 (Vezf1) is a zinc finger-containing transcription factor that is specifically expressed within the endothelium during vascular development [1].
• Using a combination of deletion mutagenesis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, a novel Vezf1/DB1-responsive element was localized to a 6-base pair (bp) motif, ACCCCC, located 47 bp upstream of the endothelin-1 transcription start site [2].
• In this report, we demonstrate that Vezf1/DB1 is a nuclear localizing protein that potently and specifically activates transcription mediated by the human endothelin-1 promoter, in a Tax-independent manner, in transient transfection assays [2].
• Vascular endothelial zinc finger 1 (Vezf1)/DB1 is a recently identified zinc finger-containing protein that is expressed specifically within endothelial cells during development [2].
• In the developing embryo, Vezf1 is expressed in the yolk sac mesoderm and the endothelium of the developing vasculature and, in addition, in mesodermal and neuronal tissues [3].

Biological context of Vezf1

• METHODS AND RESULTS: The specific downregulation of Vezf1 by antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (AS-ODN) significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and network formation of cultured ECs as well as angiogenesis in vivo [4].
• OBJECTIVE: Vascular endothelial zinc finger 1 (Vezf1) is a recently identified zinc finger transcription factor that is expressed in endothelial cells (ECs) during vascular development in mouse embryo [4].
• Moreover, Vezf1 AS-ODN decreased G2/M population of ECs and increased apoptosis, which reproduced the characteristic feature of stathmin/OP18 inhibition [4].
• The Vezf1 locus mapped to the proximal part of mouse chromosome 2, a region which has homology to human chromosome 9q [5].
• CMF1a and db1, and CMF2 and db2, respectively, were 99.2% and 99.0% similar in amino acid sequences, suggesting that they were virtually identical [6].

Anatomical context of Vezf1

• Targeted inactivation of Vezf1 in mice reveals that it acts in a closely regulated, dose-dependent fashion on the development of the blood vascular and lymphatic system [3].
• Vezf1-related sequences were found to be highly conserved among higher vertebrate species that have acquired extraembryonic yolk sac membranes during evolution [5].
• With the use of 19 mouse X hamster somatic cell hybrids, the db1 and db2 genes were localized to mouse chromosome 15 (P450-2D locus) [7].

Other interactions of Vezf1

• We found that stathmin/OP18 AS-ODN inhibited the proliferation, migration, and network formation of ECs as Vezf1 AS-ODN did [4].
• Metallothionein 1 is a downstream target of vascular endothelial zinc finger 1 (VEZF1) in endothelial cells and participates in the regulation of angiogenesis [8].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Vezf1

• The authors' previous microarray analysis revealed that the down-regulation of VEZF1 gene resulted in the decrease of metallothionein 1 (MT1) gene in endothelial cells [8].
• Here the authors showed by Northern blotting that the down-regulation of VEZF1 decreased, whereas up-regulation of VEZF1 increased, the expression of MT1 in endothelial cells [8].
• Southern blot analysis and preliminary genomic cloning suggest that at least four genes exist in the subfamily, although the present evidence suggests that only db1 and db2 are expressed in rat liver [7].

References