Ephrin ligands and their Eph receptor tyrosine kinases both are surface tethered proteins that control cell shape and movements through direct cell-cell contact. Their binding, and subsequent clustering, triggers bidirectional signalling pathways, with signals transduced from the receptor (forward) and the ligand (reverse), that regulate the behaviour of both Eph- and ephrin- expressing cells. Recent evidence suggests that reverse ephrin-B2 signalling controls endothelial cell sprout outgrowth and tip elongation, and smooth muscle cell shape changes and behaviour. In addition, misregulation of ephrin-B2 expression is observed in various tumour types and high expression of this ligand is correlated with increased tumour vascularisation and tendency to metastasise. To investigate how ephrin-B2 "reverse" signalling pathways direct changes during angiogenesis and how the expression level of ephrin ligands influences changes in cell behaviour and cell mot motility, I have used Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) overexpressing ephrin ligands as a model system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:492474 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Bochenek, Magdalena Ludmila |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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