Tetraspanin18 regulates angiogenesis through VEGFR2 and Notch pathways
Authors: Ren Liu
Bani Singh
Shaobing Zhang
Parkash S Gill
Sukhmani Singh
Gage Crump
Grace X Li
David I Quinn
Journal: Biology Open (2020)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Angiogenesis; Notch; Tspan18; VEGFR2; Zebrafish.
Affiliations: Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA, Department of Medicine, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, Department of Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Abstract:  The VEGF pathway is critically required for vasculogenesis, the formation of the primary vascular network. It is also required for angiogenesis resulting in sprouting and pruning of vessels to generate mature arborizing structures. The Notch pathway is essential for arterial-venous specification and the maturation of nascent vessels. We have determined that Tspan18, a member of the Tetraspanin family, is expressed in developing vessels but not in mature vasculature in zebrafish and mouse wound healing. Moreover, reduction at Tspan18 level resulted in aberrant vascular patterning, impaired vessel stability and defective arterial-venous specification. Tspan18 deficiency reduced VEGF, VEGFR2, Notch3 and EphrinB2, and increased EphB4, VEGFR3, Semaphorin3, Neuropilin and PlexinD1 expression. Furthermore, vascular defects of Tspan18 deficiency could be rescued by ectopic expression of VEGFR2 and Notch, but not by knockdown of Semaphorin or Plexin. Functional studies showed that knockdown of Tspan18 led to reduced endothelial cell migration, invasion and tube formation. Tspan18 has dynamic expression, regulates vascular development and maturation in the embryo with re-expression in adult life in wound healing. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper is one of a set of 121 papers that all contain images from the same library of about 100 photos and plots. This is unexpected, because each paper has different authors and different affiliations, with little to no overlap, and describes different cancer types and molecules. It would be very hard to explain how authors from different labs would all obtain the same photo. Therefore, the papers might have all be derived from the same source, such as a paper mill that sells ready-to-be-published papers. This  Stock Photo paper set has been described in more detail on my blog post, https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 07 05 the-stock-photo-paper-mill and in a Wall Street Journal article by Eva Xiao (currently behind a paywall): https: www.wsj.com articles chinese-research-papers-raise-doubts-fueling-global-questions-about-scientific-integrity-11593939600 The vast majority (113 121) of the papers were published in the same journal, European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences (ERMPS). A link to the full set of papers can be found here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 172RWS18w1lTNJ9Nnj80fuXXTqTm4fGkoK0sdYyvKE3g edit?usp=sharing All papers have been reported to the journal editors on July 2, 2020. , 
 This article has been withdrawn at the end of July 2020. The retraction notice is not linked to the article, but can be found here: https: www.europeanreview.org article 22177 It reads:  *Since this article has been suspected of research misconduct and the corresponding authors did not respond to our request to prove originality of data and figures, u201cCircular RNA circ-SMAD7 promoted glioma cell proliferation and metastasis by upregulating PCNA, by C.-Y. Zuo, W. Qian, C.-J. Huang, J. Lu, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2019; 23 (22): 10035-10041u2013DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201911_19570 u2013PMID: 31799673u201d has been withdrawn.* *The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause.* ,