MicroRNA‐22 regulates inflammation and angiogenesis via targeting VE‐cadherin

The vascular endothelial (VE)‐cadherin functions as an endothelial barrier protein controlling endothelial permeability and leukocyte transmigration. Developmental studies indicate that VE‐cadherin also plays a vital role in angiogenesis. MicroRNA‐22 plays important roles in cardiovascular diseases including cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. We identified that miR‐22 interacts with VE‐cadherin mRNA. Overexpression of miR‐22 in endothelial cells increases the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines. Injection of miR‐22 results in increased myeloperoxidase activity in the mouse lungs. Moreover, miR‐22 injection into the fluorescent‐labeled transgenic zebrafish Tg(fli1:EGFP) embryos caused defective vascular development in the dorsal and intersegmental vessels, and vascular markers were significantly suppressed in these embryos. Our studies demonstrate that the conserved targeting of VE‐cadherin by miR‐22 regulates endothelial inflammation, tissue injury, and angiogenesis.