{
  "abstract": "Choroidal neovascularisation (CNV) is a hallmark of wet/neovascular age-related macular degeneration (wAMD), characterized by aberrant blood vessel growth from the choroid into the retina. Both pathological angiogenesis and inflammation contribute to disease progression. Here we show that analsysis of single-cell RNA sequencing of experimental CNV lesions revealed upregulation of Zeb1 in angiogenic endothelial cells (ECs). We generated an endothelial-specific Zeb1 knockout (Zeb1iECKO) mouse model to assess its functional role. CNV was induced via laser photocoagulation, and vascular leakage and inflammation were evaluated using fluorescein angiography, immunohistochemistry, and transcriptomic analyses. Zeb1iECKO mice exhibited increased fluorescein leakage and enhanced vascular invasion during CNV, indicating destabilized neovascular structures. However, leukocyte infiltration within CNV lesions was not elevated. In vitro, ZEB1 knockdown in human ECs led to downregulation of inflammatory signalling pathways and reduced expression of adhesion molecules in response to TNF-α stimulation yet retained angiogenic capacity. ZEB1 coordinates angiogenic and inflammatory responses in CNV. Its loss enhances neovascularisation without promoting inflammation, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for modulating pathological angiogenesis in wAMD while minimizing inflammatory damage.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Endothelial Quiescence Group COMPARE and Centre for Cancer Sciences School of Medicine, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Data Integrity and QA Team, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK",
    "Present Address: Centre for Inflammatory Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash Medical Centre, Monash University, Clayton, VIC Australia",
    "Hypoxia and Acidosis Group Centre for Cancer Sciences, School of Medicine, BioDiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Tumour Vascular Biology Group COMPARE and Centre for Cancer Sciences School of Medicine, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Stem Cell Biology Group COMPARE and Centre for Cancer Sciences, School of Medicine, Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Biodiscovery Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY USA",
    "School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK",
    "Friederich-Alexander-Univerisity Erlangen, Department of Experimental Medicine 1, Nikolaus-Fiebiger Center for Molecular Medicine, Erlangen, Germany"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 24,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Nicholas Beazley-Long",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7342-2771"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Joseph L. Horder",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5714-6655"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kathryn R. Green"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Joshua H. Bourne",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4442-5767"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Amy P. Lynch"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Nada S. Ahmed",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4401-3260"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zarah B. Tabrizi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Guillermo Diez-Pinel"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Christopher P. Carroll"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Claire L. Allen"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Charles T. Cresswell",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-2061-2768"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Poppy E. Harris"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Isabela Ferreira"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Diogo Mosqueira"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Julie Rayes",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0499-6880"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Nigel P. Mongan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "John King"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Chris Denning"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Alan McIntyre",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4791-7292"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Marc P. Stemmler",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7866-3686"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Simone Brabletz",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0936-1526"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Brabletz",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2983-9048"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "David O. Bates",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4850-2360"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Andrew V. Benest",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8225-5159"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dvmf5mt97sps8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-10630-0",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13720079/",
  "id": "dvmf5mt97sps8",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10630-0",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2731|Retinal Diseases and Treatments"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7167593866",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13720079",
  "pmid": "42414674",
  "published": "2026-07-07",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dvmf5mt97sps8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T12:23:56Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13720079",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-10630-0"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2731|Retinal Diseases and Treatments",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Loss of endothelial ZEB1 enhances neovascularisation during choroidal neovascularisation",
  "title_text": "Loss of endothelial ZEB1 enhances neovascularisation during choroidal neovascularisation",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:21:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dvmf5mt97sps8",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}