Angiopoietin-like 7 is an anti-angiogenic protein required to prevent vascularization of the cornea

Purpose: We sought to identify the anti-angiogenic molecule expressed in corneal keratocytes that is responsible for maintaining the avascularity of the cornea.

Methods: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured with either human dermal fibroblasts or with human corneal keratocytes under serum-free conditions. The areas that exhibited blood vessel formation were estimated by immunostaining the cultures with an antitibody against CD31, a blood vessel marker. We also performed microarray gene-expression analysis and selected one molecule, Angiopoietin-Like 7 (ANGPTL7) for further functional studies conducted with the keratocytes and in vivo in mice.

Results: Areas showing blood vessel formation in normal serum-free medium were conditions were markedly smaller when HUVECs were co-cultured with corneal keratocytes than when they were co-cultured with the dermal fibroblasts under the same conditions. Microarray analysis revealed that ANGPTL7 expression was higher in keratocytes than in dermal fibroblasts. In vitro, inhibiting ANGPTL7 expression by using a specific siRNA led to greater tube formation than did the transfection of cells with a control siRNA, and this increase in tube formation was abolished when recombinant ANGPTL7 protein was added to the cultures. In vivo, intrastromal injections of an ANGPTL7 PshRNA into the avascular corneal stroma of mice resulted in the growth of blood vessels.

Conclusions: ANGPTL7, which is abundantly expressed in keratocytes, plays a major role in maintaining corneal avascularity and transparency.