Chordin-like 1, a bone morphogenetic protein-4 antagonist, is upregulated by hypoxia in human retinal pericytes and plays a role in regulating angiogenesis

Purpose: Pericytes play a specialized role in regulating angiogenesis and vascular function by providing vascular stability and controlling endothelial cell proliferation. Disorders in pericyte function and pericyte-endothelial interaction have been observed in several disease states including tumor angiogenesis and diabetic microangiopathy. In ischemic retinal disease, hypoxia is a potent driver of retinal angiogenesis. This study investigated the effects of hypoxia on retinal pericyte gene expression, and demonstrates a role in angiogenesis regulation for the hypoxia driven gene, chordin-like 1 (CHL-1).

Methods: In the current studies, we investigated hypoxia-induced gene expression in human retinal pericytes and found that expression of CHL-1, a member of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) superfamily, is upregulated by hypoxia. We investigated regulation of CHL-1 expression and the ability of CHL-1 to antagonize the antiangiogenic properties of BMP-4 using a human cell-based angiogenesis assay.

Results: We report that hypoxia induced hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha-driven expression of CHL-1. Both CHL-1 and BMP-4 were secreted from human retinal pericytes. We found that CHL-1 complexes with BMP-4 to antagonize the antiangiogenic effects of BMP-4, and that BMP-4 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) co-regulate angiogenesis.

Conclusions: We propose that hypoxia-induced upregulation of CHL-1 alters the homeostatic balance between BMP-4 and VEGF to synergize with VEGF in driving retinal angiogenesis.