| First Author | Vervoort VS | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Transgenic Res | Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 403-15 |
| PubMed ID | 18027100 | Mgi Jnum | J:134089 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3784940 | Doi | 10.1007/s11248-007-9156-1 |
| Citation | Vervoort VS, et al. (2008) A novel Flk1-TVA transgenic mouse model for gene delivery to angiogenic vasculature. Transgenic Res 17(3):403-15 |
| abstractText | The genes that regulate the formation of blood vessels in adult tissues represent promising therapeutic targets because angiogenesis plays a role in many diseases, including cancer. We wished to develop a mouse model allowing characterization of gene function in adult angiogenic vasculature while minimizing effects on embryonic vasculature or adult quiescent vasculature. Here we describe a transgenic mouse model that allows expression of proteins in the endothelial cells of newly forming blood vessels in the adult using a selective retroviral gene delivery system. We generated transgenic mouse lines that express the TVA receptor for the RCAS avian-specific retrovirus from Flk1 gene regulatory elements that drive expression in proliferating endothelial cells. Several of these Flk1-TVA lines expressed TVA mRNA in the embryonic vasculature and TVA protein in new blood vessels growing into subcutaneous extracellular matrix implants in adult mice. In a Flk1-TVA line that was crossed with the MMTV-PyMT transgenic mammary tumor model, tumor endothelial cells also expressed the TVA protein. Furthermore, endothelial cells in extracellular matrix implants and the tumors of Flk1-TVA mice were susceptible to RCAS infection, as determined by expression of green fluorescent protein encoded by the virus. The Flk1-TVA mouse model in conjunction with the RCAS gene delivery system will be useful to study molecular mechanisms underlying adult forms of angiogenesis. |
