Dose-dependent modulation of choroidal neovascularization by plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1:: Implications for clinical trials

PURPOSE. To explain the conflicting reports about the influence of plasminogen activator inhibitor type (PAI-1) on pathologic angiogenesis, such as occurs during the exudative form of age-related macular degeneration. METHODS. The expression of PAI-1 mRNA was analyzed in human and murine choroidal neovascularization (CNV) by RTPCR. The influences of increasing doses of recombinant PAI-1 were evaluated by daily intraperitoneal injections in PAI-1-1-and wild-type animals with a model of laser-induced CNV. The double mechanism of action of PAI-1 (proteolytic activity inhibition versus vitronectin binding) was explored by immunohistochemical localization of fibrinogen/fibrin and by injection of recombinant PAI-1 protein defective for vitronectin binding or with adenoviral vectors bearing a mutated binding-deficient PAI-1 gene. RESULTS. PAI-1 expression was present in human CNV and strongly induced in the course of experimental subretinal neovascularization. Daily injections of recombinant PAI-1 proteins in control and PAI-1(-/-) animals demonstrated that PAI-1 could exhibit both pro- and antiangiogenic effects, dependent on the dose. PAI-1 mutants defective for vitronectin binding were used to show that PAI-1 promotes choroidal pathologic angiogenesis merely through its antiproteolytic activity. CONCLUSIONS. These observations may help to reconcile reports with opposite results regarding the effects of PAI-1 on angiogenesis and certainly warn against uncontrolled use of PAL I modulating drugs in clinical trials.