Fig. 3

L-endoglin induces pro-survival and pro-angiogenic responses in HPAECs. a Cellular localization of endoglin and F-actin in HPAECs transfected with pDisplay-HA-L-endoglin and pCEXV-HA-L-endoglin following an overnight incubation. The arrows in (a) point to the lamellipodia where recombinant endoglin co-localises with F-actin. In the merged image, F-actin is red, endoglin is green and HA-tag is blue. Bar = 10 μm. b Corresponding western blot shows expression levels of HA-tagged endoglin, total endoglin and β-actin in HPAECs transfected with empty pDisplay, pDisplay-HA-L-endoglin and pCEXV-HA-L-endoglin, as indicated. c Cell proliferation; (d) cell viability and (e) angiogenesis (tube formation) in HPAECs overexpressing pDisplay-HA-L-endoglin and pCEXV-HA-L-endoglin or transfected with control empty vectors, as indicated. In (d) cells were serum-starved (0.1 % serum; 18 h), while the non-starved (incubated with full culture media) cells served as a positive (+) control. In (e) HPAECs were cultured in growth factor-depleted and serum-reduced (0.5 % serum) media. *P < 0.05; ***P < 0.001, comparisons with vector controls; #P < 0.05, comparison with pDisplay-L-endoglin. N = 4. f Representative images of tube formation in cells treated, as indicated. Bar = 50 μm