CXCR4 receptor endothelial cells

A further interesting phenotype identified in SDF-1/CXCR4 knockout mice is a deficiency in blood vessel development, initially observed in the gastrointestinal system (Tachibana et al. 1998). Consistent with such observations, CXCR4 receptors have been shown to be expressed by hemangioblasts, the earliest common precursor to hematopoietic and endothelial stem cells, found in yolk sac... 

Gupta, S. K., Lysko, P. G., Pillarisetti, K., Ohlstei, E., and Stadel, J. M. (1998) Chemokine receptors in human endothelial cells. Functional expression of CXCR4 and its transcriptional regulation by inflammatory cytokines. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 4282 1287. 

CXCR4 is widely expressed in different blood cell types including B-cells, T-cells, and monocytes (seeTable 4.1). In addition, expression of this receptor has been described in non-immune cells such as endothelial and epithelial cells (307). SDF-la was originally isolated from bone marrow stroma and it has been shown that it supports the proliferation on B-cell progenitors (310). Subsequent studies demonstrate that SDF-la is also a potent chemoattractant for lymphocytes and monocytes. Unlike other chemokines, SDF-la is constitu-tively expressed and is not regulated by proin-flammatory cytokines (307,311). 

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