Guillermo García-Cardeña

Department of Pathology
Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology
Brigham and Women's Hospital
New Research Building, Room 730c
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
Boston, MA 02115
Tel (617) 525-4302
Fax (617) 525-4329
Email: ggarcia-cardena@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Web Page: The García-Cardeña Lab Page
2 postdoctoral fellows, 4 graduate students

Our laboratory is using cellular, molecular, bioengineering, and computational biology tools to understand how mechanical forces generated by the flow of blood act on blood vessels to activate signaling pathways critical for cellular specification during developmental processes, and for flow-mediated vasoprotection in the context of human cardiovascular disease.

Biomechanical Control of Embryonic Developmental Processes

When the heart starts beating and blood flow is first established during vertebrate development endothelial cells lining nascent blood vessels are first expose to hemodynamic forces. The effects this critical developmental transition has on the developing vascular system remain poorly characterized. We are currently studying two processes related to this transition namely, arterial specification and the induction of embryonic hematopoiesis via the flow-mediated specification of the hemogenic endothelium.

Biomechanical Control of Endothelial Vasoprotection

In experiments design to probe the transcriptional machinery responsible for the endothelial vasoprotective phenotype present in regions of the human vasculature resistant to atherosclerosis, we revealed that the transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) acts as an integrator of the flow-mediated endothelial vasoprotective phenotype. Importantly, we demonstrated that Statins, one of the most widely used class of drugs for cardiovascular disease, increase the expression of KLF2, explaining in part, the well-described non-lipid lowering, vasoprotective effects of this class of drugs. These observations have led us to initiate high-throughput screens to identify small molecules and siRNAs capable of regulating KLF2 expression. These experiments should enable us to dissect mechanistically how flow leads to the expression of KLF2, and could aid in the identification of new molecules capable of acting as “pharmacomimetics of flow-dependent vasoprotection”.

References:

• Adamo L, Naveiras O, Wenzel P, McKinney-Freeman S, Mack PJ, Gracia-Sancho J, Suchy-Dicey A, Yoshimoto M, Lensch MW, Yoder MC, García-Cardeña G* and Daley GQ*. Biomechanical forces enhance embryonic hematopoiesis.  Nature. 2009; 459: 1131-1135.

• Mack PJ, Zhang Y, Chung S, Vickerman V, Kamm RD, García-Cardeña, G. Biomechanical regulation of endothelial-dependent events critical for adaptive remodeling. J. Biol. Chem. 2008; 284: 8412-8420.

• Parmar KM, Larman HB, Dai G, Zhang Y, Wang ET, Moorthy SN, Kratz JR, Lin Z, Jain MK, Gimbrone MA Jr, García-Cardeña G. Integration of flow-dependent endothelial phenotypes by Kruppel-like factor 2. J Clin Invest. 2006; 116: 49-58.

• Parmar KM, Nambudiri V, Dai G, Larman HB, Gimbrone MA Jr, García-Cardeña G. Statins exert endothelial atheroprotective effects via the KLF2 transcription factor. J Biol Chem. 2005; 280: 26714-26719.