Identification of three types of PDGF-A chain gene transcripts in rabbit vascular smooth muscle and their regulated...

PDGF-like peptides secreted from smooth muscles have been suggested to be responsible for the smooth muscle growth. In order to elucidate the nature of PDGF-like molecules expressed in vascular smooth muscles, we have isolated and characterized cDNA clones for PDGF-A chain from a rabbit embryonic aorta cDNA library. One of the cDNA clones was found to encode a novel PDGF-A chain, named PDGF-A3 in this report. PDGF-A3 arises from a single PDGF-A chain gene by alternative RNA splicing and differs from the sequences of previously reported endothelial- or the glioma-type transcripts by a 110 bp insertion. Expression of PDGF-A3 mRNA was selectively induced by Angiotensin II in the smooth muscle cell in vitro. Total PDGF-A mRNA is most enriched in embryonic aortas, but its expression is down-regulated with vascular development. PDGF-A mRNA is markedly increased in primary-cultured smooth muscle cells during the log-phase growth. Our results suggest that autocrine production of PDGF-A chains from the smooth muscle cell may play a role in early vascular development and in Angiotensin II-induced smooth muscle cell proliferation.