Steps toward mapping the human vasculature by phage display

Nat Med. 2002 Feb;8(2):121-7. doi: 10.1038/nm0202-121.

Abstract

The molecular diversity of receptors in human blood vessels remains largely unexplored. We developed a selection method in which peptides that home to specific vascular beds are identified after administration of a peptide library. Here we report the first in vivo screening of a peptide library in a patient. We surveyed 47,160 motifs that localized to different organs. This large-scale screening indicates that the tissue distribution of circulating peptides is nonrandom. High-throughput analysis of the motifs revealed similarities to ligands for differentially expressed cell-surface proteins, and a candidate ligand-receptor pair was validated. These data represent a step toward the construction of a molecular map of human vasculature and may have broad implications for the development of targeted therapies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Blood Vessels / physiology*
  • Genetic Variation
  • Humans
  • Oligopeptides / chemistry
  • Organ Specificity
  • Peptide Library*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software

Substances

  • Oligopeptides
  • Peptide Library