Applications.

Endocan & pulmonary inflamation

The lungs naturally receive a large flow of blood. Many leukocytes pass through the lungs, but do not cross the underlying tissues. To keep these leukocytes into the bloodstram, endothelial cells that line the inner wall of blood vessels produce mediators like endocan that prevent the leukocytes from spontaneously migrating into the alveolus.

Endocan is neosynthesized by the pulmonary endothelium in response to proinflammatory stimuli. It is completely secreted in free form in the bloodstream. Its apparent molecular weight of 400 kDa due to the presence of a glycosaminoglycan chain prevents its filtration through the kidney glomerular barrier. This makes endocan an excellent biomarker able to provide information on the inflammatory state of the deep lung (see table below).

Endocan and tumor angiogenesis

Endocan is also neosynthesized during angiogenesis in response to angiogenic mediators such as VEGF. Endocan is preferentially expressed in specialized endothelial cells called tip-cells, found at the growing end of a nascent vascular sprout and are characterized by abundant and dynamic filopodia. Endocan promotes vascular sprouting in the presence of VEGF. This makes endocan an excellent marker of tumor angiogenesis, which has been particularly studied in hepatocarcinoma and gastric cancer.

Endocan & vascular syndromes

Finally, variations of blood endocan levels are observed in various pathologies where endothelial dysfunction is associated, such as proliferative retinopathy or early severe preeclampsia..