Understanding the different ways NRP1 helps promote blood vessel growth

NRP1-mediated cell adhesion for tissue vascularisation

The growth of new blood vessels is important to repair damaged tissue after a heart attack or stroke. It’s also important that blood vessels grow when and where they are needed and not in a dysfunctional way. A molecule in blood vessel cells called NRP1 promotes the growth of new blood vessels in normal health and disease.. It has been shown that NRP1 promotes the development of blood vessels through proteins VEGF and SEMA3. However NRP1 has also other functions that are independent of VEGF and SEMA3, it helps cells stick together – a process called cell adhesion. Professor Christiana Ruhrberg and her team have previously shown that disrupting NRP1’s cell adhesion function prevents the growth of healthy new blood vessels. They think this is because NRP1 facilitates blood vessel integration in their host organs. They will test their hypothesis in this new project and will explore further what happens to blood vessels when cell adhesion through NRP1 is blocked. This will include identifying molecules that work with NRP1 to help cells stick together, which have so far been hard to find. Defining the role of NRP1-mediated adhesion in blood vessel growth will increase understanding of normal blood vessel development. In the long run, this could lead to better treatments that promote blood vessel regrowth following a heart attack or stroke.