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  3. Astrocytic expression of Yes-associated protein (YAP) regulates retinal neovascularization in a mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy

Astrocytic expression of Yes-associated protein (YAP) regulates retinal neovascularization in a mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy

  • Microvasc Res. 2023 Sep 28:151:104611. doi: 10.1016/j.mvr.2023.104611.
Zhifei Liu 1,  Jieqiong Zhang 1,  Xue Li 1,  Qiumei Hu 1,  Xi Chen 1,  Linlin Luo 1,  Liqianyu Ai 2,  Jian Ye 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Research Institute of Surgery & Daping Hospital, Army Medical Center of PLA, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
  • 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Research Institute of Surgery & Daping Hospital, Army Medical Center of PLA, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: echoqian@tmmu.edu.cn.
  • 3 Department of Ophthalmology, Research Institute of Surgery & Daping Hospital, Army Medical Center of PLA, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: yejian1979@tmmu.edu.cn.
PMID: 37774941 DOI: 10.1016/j.mvr.2023.104611
Abstract

Pathological neovascularization is the hallmark of many vascular oculopathies. There is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding retinal neovascularization research. A working hypothesis that astrocytic Yes-associated protein (YAP) act as a key factor in retinal neovascularization was proposed. And our study was conducted to verified this hypothesis. In vivo, we successfully generated mice deficient in YAP in astrocytes (YAPf/f GFAP-Cre mice) and set up oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) model. Pathological neovascularization was evaluated by immunofluorescence staining and western blotting. In vitro, cultured retinal astrocytes were transfected with YAP siRNA. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western blot were used to determine the proteins in the supernatants and cells. The results showed that YAP was upregulated and activated in the OIR mice retinas. Conditional ablation of YAP aggravated pathological neovascularization, along with the upregulation of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Studies in vitro confirmed that the knockdown of YAP in astrocytes lead to increases in VEGF-A and MCP-1 levels, thus enhancing pro-angiogenic capability of YAP-deficit astrocytes. In conclusion, astrocytic YAP alleviates retinal pathological angiogenesis by inhibiting the over-activation of astrocytes, which suppresses excessive VEGF-A production and neuroinflammation.

Keywords

Astrocytes; Neovascularization; Oxygen-induced retinopathy; YAP.

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