VEGF-B是一种“血管内皮生长因子”，在心脏、骨骼肌和褐色脂肪组织中都有高度表达。该因子被发现在将类脂向周围组织定向中起一个出人意料的作用。
“血管内皮生长因子”（VEGFs）作为主要血管生成调控因子为人们所熟知，但VEGF-B在血管功能中的详细作用过去一直不清楚。
缺失VEGF-B的小鼠在肌肉、心脏和褐色脂肪组织中所积累的类脂较少，而是将它们“推给”白色脂肪组织。VEGF-B在重新分配类脂中所起作用，提出了在糖尿病、肥胖症和心血管疾病中对致病性类脂积累进行调控的可能的新策略。(生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature 464, 917-921 (8 April 2010) | doi:10.1038/nature08945
Vascular endothelial growth factor B controls endothelial fatty acid uptake
Carolina E. Hagberg1,2, Annelie Falkevall1,2, Xun Wang1,2, Erik Larsson3, Jenni Huusko4, Ingrid Nilsson1, Laurens A. van Meeteren5, Erik Samen6,7, Li Lu7, Maarten Vanwildemeersch1,2, Joakim Klar2,5, Guillem Genove8, Kristian Pietras1,2, Sharon Stone-Elander6,7, Lena Claesson-Welsh5, Seppo Yl?-Herttuala4, Per Lindahl3,9 & Ulf Eriksson1,2
1 Tissue Biology Group, Division of Matrix Biology, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
2 Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd, Stockholm Branch, Karolinska Institutet, Box 240, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
3 Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, Box 440, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
4 Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine, A.I. Virtanen Institute, University of Kuopio, Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland
5 Uppsala University, Department of Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck Laboratory, SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
6 Karolinska Pharmacy, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden 7 Clinical Neurosciences, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
8 Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Division of Matrix Biology, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
9 Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular Research, Bruna Str?ket 16, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
The vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are major angiogenic regulators and are involved in several aspects of endothelial cell physiology1. However, the detailed role of VEGF-B in blood vessel function has remained unclear2, 3. Here we show that VEGF-B has an unexpected role in endothelial targeting of lipids to peripheral tissues. Dietary lipids present in circulation have to be transported through the vascular endothelium to be metabolized by tissue cells, a mechanism that is poorly understood4. Bioinformatic analysis showed that Vegfb was tightly co-expressed with nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes across a large variety of physiological conditions in mice, pointing to a role for VEGF-B in metabolism. VEGF-B specifically controlled endothelial uptake of fatty acids via transcriptional regulation of vascular fatty acid transport proteins. As a consequence, Vegfb -/- mice showed less uptake and accumulation of lipids in muscle, heart and brown adipose tissue, and instead shunted lipids to white adipose tissue. This regulation was mediated by VEGF receptor 1 and neuropilin 1 expressed by the endothelium. The co-expression of VEGF-B and mitochondrial proteins introduces a novel regulatory mechanism, whereby endothelial lipid uptake and mitochondrial lipid use are tightly coordinated. The involvement of VEGF-B in lipid uptake may open up the possibility for novel strategies to modulate pathological lipid accumulation in diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
