Plasmalemmal Vesicle Associated Protein-1 (PV-1) is a marker of blood-brain barrier disruption in rodent models

Eveline H Shue¹ , Eleanor B Carson-Walter² , Yang Liu² , Bethany N Winans² , Zarina S Ali² , Jun Chen³ and Kevin A Walter²

¹Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

²Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA

³Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Neuroscience 2008, 9:29doi:10.1186/1471-2202-9-29


Published:	26 February 2008

Abstract

Background

Plasmalemmal vesicle associated protein-1 (PV-1) is selectively expressed in human brain microvascular endothelial cells derived from clinical specimens of primary and secondary malignant brain tumors, cerebral ischemia, and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases associated with blood-brain barrier breakdown. In this study, we characterize the murine CNS expression pattern of PV-1 to determine whether localized PV-1 induction is conserved across species and disease state.

Results

We demonstrate that PV-1 is selectively upregulated in mouse blood vessels recruited by brain tumor xenografts at the RNA and protein levels, but is not detected in non-neoplastic brain. Additionally, PV-1 is induced in a mouse model of acute ischemia. Expression is confined to the cerebovasculature within the region of infarct and is temporally regulated.

Conclusion

Our results confirm that PV-1 is preferentially induced in the endothelium of mouse brain tumors and acute ischemic brain tissue and corresponds to blood-brain barrier disruption in a fashion analogous to human patients. Characterization of PV-1 expression in mouse brain is the first step towards development of rodent models for testing anti-edema and anti-angiogenesis therapeutic strategies based on this molecule.