VEGF-B is dispensable for blood vessel growth but critical for their survival, and VEGF-B targeting inhibits pathological angiogenesis

摘要

VEGF-B, a homolog of VEGF discovered a long time ago, has not been considered an important target in antiangiogenic therapy. Instead, it has received little attention from the field. In this study, . Using different animal models and multiple types of vascular cells, we revealed that although VEGF-B is dispensable for blood vessel growth, it is critical for their survival. Importantly, the survival effect of VEGF-B is not only on vascular endothelial cells, but also on pericytes, smooth muscle cells, and vascular stem/progenitor cells. In vivo, VEGF-B targeting inhibited both choroidal and retinal neovascularization. Mechanistically, we found that the vascular survival effect of VEGF-B is achieved by regulating the expression of many vascular prosurvival genes via both NP-1 and VEGFR-1. Our work thus indicates that the function of VEGF-B in the vascular system is to act as a "survival," rather than an "angiogenic" factor and that VEGF-B inhibition may offer new therapeutic opportunities to treat neovascular diseases.