CXCR7 Inhibits Fibrosis via Wnt/<i>β</i>‐Catenin Pathways during the Process of Angiogenesis in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Minqian Shen, Yifan Feng, Jing Wang, Yuanzhi Yuan, Fei Yuan
Abstract
Although SDF‐1/CXCR7 plays an important role in angiogenesis, the function and the pathway of the SDF‐1/CXCR7 axis might depend on the cell type or tissue origin and not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of CXCR7 in SDF‐1‐induced proliferation, migration, apoptosis, tube formation, and endothelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EndMT) of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and the potential pathway of SDF‐1/CXCR7. We confirmed that the silencing of CXCR7 inhibited the proliferation of HUVECs and contributed the apoptosis, while overexpressed CXCR7 increased SDF‐1‐induced HUVECs migration and tube formation. However, upregulated CXCR7 inhibited the expression of α ‐SMA, suggesting that CXCR7 might attenuate EndMT. In addition, overexpressed CXCR7 activated AKT and ERK signaling pathways but suppressed Wnt/ β ‐catenin pathways in HUVECs. The inhibition of Wnt/ β ‐catenin pathways decreased the expression of α ‐SMA. Altogether, these results suggest that CXCR7 might inhibit fibrosis via Wnt/ β ‐catenin pathways during the process of angiogenesis.