The Integrin Very Late Antigen-4 Is Expressed in Human Smooth Muscle Cell
1997
Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and its counterreceptor, the integrin very late antigen-4 (VLA-4), have recently been identified in smooth muscle cells during intimal thickening in humans and in newly forming vessels during ontogeny in mice, respectively. We examined the coexpression of VCAM-1 and the α4 integrin subunit in human smooth muscle cells. The expression of VCAM-1 and α4 subunit were studied during development of the aorta. In the 10-week-old human fetal aorta, VCAM-1 and α4 were strongly expressed in smooth muscle cells. Their expression was dramatically reduced within the 24th week of gestation and disappeared in the adult aortic media. However, smooth muscle cells from intimal atherosclerotic thickening of adult aorta reexpressed both VCAM-1 and α4. In a culture model mimicking smooth muscle differentiation, VCAM-1 mRNA and protein and α4 integrin protein were coexpressed with smooth muscle–specific variants of cytoskeletal and contractile proteins, smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, caldesmon heavy chain, and desmin. Treatment with antibodies against VCAM-1 or α4 integrin subunit interfered with the mRNA induction of smooth muscle–specific markers of differentiation. These results in vitro, associated with the transitory expression of VCAM-1 and VLA-4 during vascular ontogeny and the atherosclerosis process, point to a possible role of VCAM-1 and VLA-4 in the induction of smooth muscle differentiation.
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