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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2003;23:1481.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Caveolin-1 and Caveolae Act as Regulators of Mitogenic Signaling in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Johan Thyberg

From the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Correspondence to Johan Thyberg, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Box 285, SE-17177 Stockholm Sweden. E-mail johan.thyberg@cmb.ki.se

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) build up the media of arterial walls and are normally highly differentiated, contractile cells that take part in the control of blood pressure and flow. In response to vascular injury (physical or chemical), they may become activated and gain the ability to migrate through the tissue (from the media to the intima), proliferate, and secrete extracellular matrix components. This change in differentiated properties (transition from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype) is a prerequisite for the participation of the SMCs in formation of intimal thickenings, eg, during atherosclerosis and restenosis.^1,2 Attention has lately also been paid to the possibility that progenitor cells circulating in the blood infiltrate the wounded intima and give rise to lesional SMCs.³ In both cases, a variety of extracellular matrix components, growth factors, and cytokines exert crucial regulatory roles.^1,2

See pages 1521 and 1528

Recently, a rapidly growing interest has further been focused on the function of caveolae and the protein caveolin in control of cell differentiation and proliferation, among others in the vascular system.^4,5 Caveolae are 50- to 80-nm, flask-shaped invaginations of the plasma membrane, enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids. They contain the membrane protein caveolin (three isoforms described). Caveolin-1 and -2 are found in most cells, whereas caveolin-3 is muscle-specific (most strongly expressed in skeletal and heart muscle cells). The caveolin molecules form oligomers in the membrane and interact directly with cholesterol. Accordingly, both caveolin and cholesterol are required to give rise to the characteristic omega-like shape of caveolae. Caveolin . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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