Hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone 5 (Hic-5) as a potential therapeutic target for vascular and other disorders

Hydrogen peroxide-inducible clone-5 (hic-5) is a focal adhesion scaffold protein primarily expressed in vascular and visceral smooth muscle cells. we recently generated mice lacking hic-5,which grew with no apparent abnormality (kim-kaneyama j,et al. j mol cell cardiol. 2011;50(1):77-86). however,we discovered that recovery of arterial media following vascular injury is delayed significantly in hic-5 knockout mice consequent to enhanced apoptosis of cultured vascular smooth muscle cells after mechanical stress; thus,hic-5 is regarded as a novel factor in vascular remodeling. the hic-5 gene is also induced by transforming growth factor-β,a well-known accelera4or in fibrosis. hic-5 involvement in various fibrotic disorders,e.g.,scar formation,keloid formation and glomerulosclero-sis,has been proposed. sirna silencing of hic-5 in a breast cancer cell line reduces its invasiveness; moreover,hic-5 serves as a steroid hormone co-activator and likely participates in endometriosis and prostate cancer. thus,functional characterization of hic-5 in various pathophysiological conditions may afford novel mechanistic insights into a wide variety of diseases.