Rasip1 controls lymphatic vessel lumen maintenance by regulating endothelial cell junctions

Although major progress in our understanding of the genes and mechanisms that regulate lymphatic vasculature development has been made, we still do not know how lumen formation and maintenance occurs. Here, we identify the Ras-interacting protein Rasip1 as a key player in this process. We show that lymphatic endothelial cell-specific -deficient mouse embryos exhibit enlarged and blood-filled lymphatics at embryonic day 14.5. These vessels have patent lumens with disorganized junctions. Later on, as those vessels become fragmented and lumens collapse, cell junctions become irregular. In addition, deletion at later stages impairs lymphatic valve formation. We determined that is essential for lymphatic lumen maintenance during embryonic development by regulating junction integrity, as loss results in reduced levels of junction molecules and defective cytoskeleton organization and We determined that Rasip1 regulates Cdc42 activity, as deletion of results in similar phenotypes to those seen following the loss of Furthermore, ectopic expression rescues the phenotypes in -deficient lymphatic endothelial cells, supporting the suggestion that Rasip1 regulates Cdc42 activity to regulate cell junctions and cytoskeleton organization, which are both activities required for lymphatic lumen maintenance.