Coagulation, fibrinolysis and angiogenesis: new insights from knockout mice

Angiogenesis plays a key role in a broad array of physiologic and pathologic processes. Two major systems--coagulation and fibrinolysis--maintaining hemostasis, have recently been implicated in angiogenesis. Generation of mice deficient in components of coagulation and plasminogen systems has provided an extraordinary opportunity to define the role of each of these systems in vivo and to elucidate molecular mechanisms involved in angiogenesis. It appears that several factors of the coagulation system, such as the tissue factor, the factor V and the thrombin receptor, play an important role in embryonic vessel formation, most probably in the formation of the primitive vascular wall. In addition, the plasminogen system appears to play a significant role in angiogenesis in adulthood, regulating the migration of endothelial and smooth muscle cells, the degradation of the extracellular matrix and activity of the metalloproteinase system. These new revelations open a possibility for future therapeutic strategies to specifically control angiogenesis in different pathological processes where abnormalities of tissue vascularization are pathogenetically prominent.