This manuscript is the first demonstration of the ability of the VeraVec endothelial cell to survive in culture without serum. Seandel and colleagues demonstrated the activation of Akt in VeraVecs is responsible for their fate through the downstream activation of mTOR and NF-kB. Of note, VeraVecs are fully competent to respond to angiogenic stimuli, with VEGF and FGF signaling used as examples.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 9;105(49):19288-93. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0805980105. Epub 2008 Nov 26.
Seandel M1, Butler JM, Kobayashi H, Hooper AT, White IA, Zhang F, Vertes EL, Kobayashi M, Zhang Y, Shmelkov SV, Hackett NR, Rabbany S, Boyer JL, Rafii S.on
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA.