Molecular cloning and identification of naturally occurring human antisense angiopoietin-1: Gna-1

One novel cDNA fragment was obtained from vascular endothelial cells by dif ferential display reverse transcription PCR technique. By using this fragme nt as probe, we screened the human artery cDNA library and obtained one cDN A clone which is 2198 bp in length. After sequencing and homology researchi ng, we found that the clone contained a region of 851 bp in length compleme ntary to that of human angiopoietin-1 cDNA, encoding the partial fibrinogen -like domain and 3 ' non-translational region. It was inferred that this cl one was a naturally occurring antisense RNA of human angiopoietin-1, design ated as Gna-1. Gna-1 does not encode protein. The transcription of Gna-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and ECV304 cells was confirmed by R T-PCR method. Gna-1 may be involved in regulating the function of angiopoie tin-1, and play a significant role in angiogenesis.