Human vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin/CD144) promoter
Promoter of the human CDH5 gene, encoding VE-cadherin (CD144), driving transgene expression specifically in vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells. Confers endothelial-restricted transcription from early embryonic vasculogenesis through the quiescent adult vasculature, and is used to target reporter genes or Cre recombinase to endothelium in vivo.
Length: 2510 bp
Strength: moderate
Tissue: Vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells, from early embryonic vasculogenesis (E7.5) through adult quiescent vasculature (Gory et al. 1999; Alva et al. 2006).
Expression: constitutive
Origin: Human CDH5 (VE-cadherin) gene
Characteristics
A ~2.5 kb (-2486/+24) fragment of the CDH5 promoter directs endothelial-specific reporter expression in transgenic mice, appearing at the onset of vasculogenesis and persisting in the endothelial layer of vessels through adulthood (Gory et al. 1999). A VE-cadherin-Cre line built from the same regulatory region showed recombination as early as embryonic day 7.5 in yolk-sac endothelium, reaching 96.4% endothelial penetrance by E14.5, with activity retained in quiescent adult vasculature and lymphatic endothelium — unlike Tie1/Tie2-, PECAM-, or Flk1-based endothelial drivers, which are largely silenced in adult quiescent vessels (Alva et al. 2006). The stored 2510 bp sequence matches the length of that -2486/+24 fragment.
Applications: Used to target reporter genes (lacZ, GFP) and Cre recombinase to vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells in transgenic mice, including lineage tracing from early yolk-sac vasculogenesis and conditional gene deletion in the adult quiescent endothelium (Alva et al. 2006).
Limitations: Endothelial restriction is incomplete. In the VE-cadherin-Cre line, reporter expression appears in about half of all circulating blood cells and in roughly 50% of adult bone marrow hematopoietic lineages, as well as in fetal liver, spleen and thymus (Alva et al. 2006), so this promoter does not cleanly separate endothelium from blood lineages.
