Description
Proinflammatory activation of endothelial cells leads to recruitment of leukocytes by upregulation of adhesion molecules and presentation of chemoattractants. In response to such activation there is also a strong shift in the endothelial expression of Notch ligands, with downregulation of Dll4 and a upregulation of JAG1. To assess whether Jagged1 would affect the endothelial activation profile, we suppressed JAG1 expression during IL-1-induced activation by means of siRNA and performed a genome-wide transcriptome analysis. Our results show for the first time that Jagged1 modulates the transcription profile of activated endothelial cells and describe data that imply a role for Jagged1 in sharpening the inflammatory profile of the vasculature, giving it an edge towards leukocyte recruitment. These findings imply that Jagged1 might be a potential therapeutic target to attenuate inflammation and reduce tissue damage in inflammatory diseases.