Role for sphingosine kinase-1 in endothelial progenitor cell survival and differentiation.

Funded Activity Summary

Lay description: Collectively, diseases of the vascular system contribute immensely to the burden of health care in Australia. Notably, abnormal blood vessel formation and function (angiogenesis) has been identified as a major cause or contributor to the vascular complications associated with inflammation, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Endothelial cells are one of the principle cells of blood vessels forming a barrier between the blood and tissues. This project aims to understand the process whereby mature endothelial cells are formed and how replacement of damaged endothelial cells is normally achieved. Stem cell therapy is considered the new frontier for the treatment of many diseases. Understanding how endothelial progenitor cells differentiate to mature endothelial cells and the signals which operate inside the cell may allow therapeutic manipulation of key target moecules in order to limit or control inflammation, tumourigenesis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetic retinopathy. Our results suggest that one target maybe the enzyme sphingosine kinase.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $294,205.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Cellular Immunology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

angiogenesis | cell differentiation | cell growth/differentiation | cell survival | endothelial cells | endothelial dysfunction | intracellular signalling | stem cells | vascular pathologies

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