Summary
Disruption of endothelial homeostasis results in endothelial dysfunction, characterised
by a dysbalance between nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels
often accompanied by a prothrombotic and proproliferative state. The serine protease
thrombin not only is instrumental in formation of the fibrin clot, but also exerts
direct effects on the vessel wall by activating proliferative and angiogenic responses.
In endothelial cells, thrombin can induce NO as well as ROS levels. However, the relative
contribution of these reactive species to the angiogenic response towards thrombin
is not completely clear. Since plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), a direct
target of the proangiogenic transcription factors hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs),
exerts prothrombotic and proangiogenic activities we investigated the role of ROS
and NO in the regulation of HIF-1α, PAI-1 and capillary formation in response to thrombin.
Thrombin enhanced the formation of NO as well as ROS generation involving the GTPase
Rac1 in endothelial cells. Rac1-dependent ROS formation promoted induction of HIF-1α,
PAI-1 and capillary formation by thrombin, while NO reduced ROS bioavailability and
subsequently limited induction of HIF-1α, PAI-1 and the angiogenic response. Importantly,
thrombin activation of Rac1 was diminished by NO, but enhanced by ROS. Thus, our findings
show that capillary formation induced by thrombin via Rac1-dependent activation of
HIF-1 and PAI-1 is limited by the concomitant release of NO which reduced ROS bioavailability.
Rac1 activity is sensitive to ROS and NO, thereby playing an essential role in fine
tuning the endothelial response to thrombin.
Keywords Thrombin - angiogenesis - nitric oxide - reactive oxygen species - PAI-1