{"doi":"10.3390/jcm12227145","title":"Pharmacological Modulation of β-Catenin Preserves Endothelial Barrier Integrity and Mitigates Retinal Vascular Permeability and Inflammation","abstract":"Compromised blood-retinal barrier (BRB) integrity is a significant factor in ocular diseases like uveitis and retinopathies, leading to pathological vascular permeability and retinal edema. Adherens and tight junction (AJ and TJ) dysregulation due to retinal inflammation plays a pivotal role in BRB disruption. We investigated the potential of ICG001, which inhibits β-catenin-mediated transcription, in stabilizing cell junctions and preventing BRB leakage. In vitro studies using human retinal endothelial cells (HRECs) showed that ICG001 treatment improved β-Catenin distribution within AJs post lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment and enhanced monolayer barrier resistance. The in vivo experiments involved a mouse model of LPS-induced ocular inflammation. LPS treatment resulted in increased albumin leakage from retinal vessels, elevated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Plasmalemmal Vesicle-Associated Protein (PLVAP) expression, as well as microglia and macroglia activation. ICG001 treatment (i.p.) effectively mitigated albumin leakage, reduced VEGF and PLVAP expression, and reduced the number of activated microglia/macrophages. Furthermore, ICG001 treatment suppressed the surge in inflammatory cytokine synthesis induced by LPS. These findings highlight the potential of interventions targeting β-Catenin to enhance cell junction stability and improve compromised barrier integrity in various ocular inflammatory diseases, offering hope for better management and treatment options.","journal":"Journal of Clinical Medicine","year":2023,"id":355329,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":6,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9602,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2023-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1026400,"name":"Shengshuai Shan","orcid":"0000-0003-1152-6609","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":699712,"name":"Fang Liu","orcid":"0000-0002-5129-5318","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1103726,"name":"J.R. Tyler","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250318,"name":"Ruth B. Caldwell","orcid":"0000-0003-0168-0354","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":287049,"name":"Payaningal R. Somanath","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":750941,"name":"S. Priya Narayanan","orcid":"0000-0002-8842-622X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1103303,"name":"Madhuri Rudraraju","orcid":"0000-0002-6478-5666","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":72,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:13:16.394812Z","pmid":"38002758","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}