How VEGF receptor levels guide new blood vessel growth

Spatial regulation of VEGF receptor recycling in angiogenesis

Angiogenesis - the process of new blood vessel growth - is an area of interest for many heart researchers as there is still a need to develop therapies to encourage new vessels to grow in oxygen-starved areas to heal injury after a heart attack or stroke. Professor Harry Mellor from the University of Bristol is leading a team that will spend 3 years researching the factors that control angiogenesis. They are particularly interested in a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which drives the growth of new vessels by binding to special sites (called receptors) on the surface of endothelial cells that line blood vessels. Professor Mellor’s group has previously discovered that the growth may be controlled by the levels of the receptor present in a particular vessel region. He and his team will now look at other proteins that may control this receptor level (one is called myosin Vb). Understanding how receptor levels may guide the growth of new blood vessels is key for developing treatments to heal damaged areas of the circulation.