ESM1 explained

Endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ESM1 gene.^{[1] [2]}

This gene encodes a secreted protein which is mainly expressed in the endothelial cells in human lung and kidney tissues. The expression of this gene is regulated by cytokines, suggesting that it may play a role in endothelium-dependent pathological disorders. The transcript contains multiple polyadenylation and mRNA instability signals.^[2]

The ESM-1 gene product is also called endocan since 2001, when it was characterized as a dermatan sulfate proteoglycan by Bechard et al. Recently, endocan / ESM-1 has been described as a specific biomarker of tip cells during neoangiogenesis by independent teams. Endocan expression has been shown to be increase in presence of pro-angiogenic growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2). In hypervascularized cancers, overexpression of endocan has been detected by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies against endocan / ESM-1.

Further reading

• Bechard D, Meignin V, Scherpereel A . Characterization of the secreted form of endothelial-cell-specific molecule 1 by specific monoclonal antibodies. . J. Vasc. Res. . 37 . 5 . 417–25 . 2000 . 11025405 . 10.1159/000025758 . 22931177 . etal.
• Béchard D, Scherpereel A, Hammad H . Human endothelial-cell specific molecule-1 binds directly to the integrin CD11a/CD18 (LFA-1) and blocks binding to intercellular adhesion molecule-1. . J. Immunol. . 167 . 6 . 3099–106 . 2001 . 11544294 . 10.4049/jimmunol.167.6.3099. etal. free .
• Aitkenhead M, Wang SJ, Nakatsu MN . Identification of endothelial cell genes expressed in an in vitro model of angiogenesis: induction of ESM-1, (beta)ig-h3, and NrCAM. . Microvascular Research . 63 . 2 . 159–71 . 2002 . 11866539 . 10.1006/mvre.2001.2380 . etal.
• Tsai JC, Zhang J, Minami T . Cloning and characterization of the human lung endothelial-cell-specific molecule-1 promoter. . J. Vasc. Res. . 39 . 2 . 148–59 . 2002 . 12011586 . 10.1159/000057763 . 40049627 . etal.
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences. . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . etal. free .
• Wellner M, Herse F, Janke J . Endothelial cell specific molecule-1--a newly identified protein in adipocytes. . Horm. Metab. Res. . 35 . 4 . 217–21 . 2004 . 12778364 . 10.1055/s-2003-39477 . 22500788 . etal.
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 . etal.
• Rual JF, Venkatesan K, Hao T . Towards a proteome-scale map of the human protein-protein interaction network. . Nature . 437 . 7062 . 1173–8 . 2005 . 16189514 . 10.1038/nature04209 . 2005Natur.437.1173R . 4427026 . etal.
• Cong R, Jiang X, Wilson CM . Hhex is a direct repressor of endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM-1). . Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. . 346 . 2 . 535–45 . 2006 . 16764824 . 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.05.153 . etal.
• Grigoriu BD, Depontieu F, Scherpereel A . Endocan expression and relationship with survival in human non-small cell lung cancer. . Clin. Cancer Res. . 12 . 15 . 4575–82 . 2007 . 16899604 . 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-06-0185 . etal. free .
• Rennel E, Mellberg S, Dimberg A . Endocan is a VEGF-A and PI3K regulated gene with increased expression in human renal cancer. . Exp. Cell Res. . 313 . 7 . 1285–94 . 2007 . 17362927 . 10.1016/j.yexcr.2007.01.021 . etal.

Notes and References

1. Lassalle P, Molet S, Janin A, Heyden JV, Tavernier J, Fiers W, Devos R, Tonnel AB . ESM-1 is a novel human endothelial cell-specific molecule expressed in lung and regulated by cytokines . J Biol Chem . 271 . 34 . 20458–64 . Oct 1996 . 8702785 . 10.1074/jbc.271.34.20458 . free .
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: ESM1 endothelial cell-specific molecule 1.