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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Intravital Microscopy of Monocyte Homing and Tumor-Related Angiogenesis in a Murine Model of Peripheral Arterial Disease
Published on: August 26, 2017
Sphingosine-1-phosphate prevents tumor necrosis factor-{alpha}-mediated monocyte adhesion to aortic endothelium in
David T Bolick1, Suseela Srinivasan, Kyu W Kim
1Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism and Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va 22908, USA.
Objective:
Endothelial activation and monocyte adhesion to endothelium are key events in inflammation. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a sphingolipid that binds to G protein-coupled receptors on endothelial cells (ECs). We examined the role of S1P in modulating endothelial activation and monocyte-EC interactions in vivo.
Methods And Results:
We injected C57BL/6J mice intravenously with tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in the presence and absence of the S1P1 receptor agonist SEW2871 and examined monocyte adhesion. Aortas from TNF-alpha-injected mice had a 4-fold increase in the number of monocytes bound, whereas aortas from TNF-alpha plus SEW2871-treated mice had few monocytes bound (P<0.0001). Using siRNA, we found that inhibiting the S1P1 receptor in vascular ECs blocked the ability of S1P to prevent monocyte-EC interactions in response to TNF-alpha. We examined signaling pathways downstream of S1P1 and found that 100 nM S1P increased phosphorylation of Akt and decreased activation of c-jun.
Conclusions:
Thus, we provide the first evidence that S1P signaling through the endothelial S1P1 receptor protects the vasculature against TNF-alpha-mediated monocyte-EC interactions in vivo.