Emerging lymphae for the fountain of life

Serena Marchiò1, Elena Astanina, Federico Bussolino

  • 1Department of Oncology-University of Torino, Institute for Cancer Research at Candiolo, Candiolo, Torino I-10060, Italy.

The EMBO Journal
|January 31, 2013
PubMed

The lymphatic system is indispensable for the collection and cycling of tissue-extravasated fluids, macromolecules and immune cells into the bloodstream. Different mechanisms, including sprouting, ballooning and budding of lymphatic endothelial cells from the cardinal vein, have been proposed for lymphatic vessel formation during mammalial embryogenesis. Hägerling et al (2013) now provide a cell-scale model of lymphoangiogenesis by applying selective plane illumination-based ultramicroscopy (Becker et al, 2008) to wholemount-immunostained mouse embryos. They describe VEGFR-3, VEGF-C and CCBE1 as key regulators of lymphatic endothelial cell budding and migration at the early emergence of lymphatics from venous endothelium.

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