Research
Molecular basis of TGFß/BMP signalling in cardiovascular diseases
I am interested in how protein-protein recognition regulates TGFb family signalling, how defects in such interaction cause cardiovascular disease and how to employ such knowledge for therapeutic purposes.
There are over 30 TGFb family ligands in humans. Their signals are mediated by forming a signalling complex with one of the 7 type I receptors and one of the 5 type II receptors. These signalling complexes are further regulated by specific interactions with prodomain, co-receptors and ligand traps. The complexity of such protein-protein interaction network fine-tunes the outcome of TGFb family signalling, contributing to the homeostasis of many essential biological processes, such as vascular quiescence, wound healing and immune system.
The current focus of the group is on BMP9(10):ALK1:BMPRII pathways on vascular endothelial cells and their interactions with co-receptor endoglin (ENG). BMP9 and BMP10 form the major circulating BMP activity, signalling particular potently in vascular endothelial cells with EC50 in the pg/ml range. ALK1 is the type I receptor highly expressed on endothelial cells and specific for BMP9 and BMP10, whereas BMPRII is the ubiquitous type II receptor for over 15 BMP ligands.
Human genetics strongly support the importance of this pathway in cardiovascular diseases. Mutations in ALK1 and ENG cause Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), an autosomal dominant vascular disorder where patients have weak blood vessels in internal organs which can cause unexpected life-threatening bleeding. Mutations in BMPR2, GDF2 (encoding BMP9), BMP10, ALK1 and ENG have been found in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). These patients have elevated blood pressure in pulmonary circulation due to the remodelling of pulmonary arteries, eventually result in right ventricular hypertrophy and death due to heart failure.
Our research on the molecular basis of endothelial BMP signalling pathways has led to a number of novel findings. We reported that BMP9 is regulated by redox-dependent proteolysis, prodomain does not confer latency to BMP10, soluble ENG does not inhibit but modifies BMP9 and 10 signalling in vascular endothelial cells, and the molecular recognition of these ALK1-ligands signalling in endothelial cells. We also show that loss of endogenous BMP9 leads to lung vascular leak in vivo, and have developed BMP9 variants that maintain endothelial protective function but lack the bone-forming activity. Such variants are currently under drug development programme at our spin-out company Morphogen-IX, which I am a co-founder with Prof. Nick Morrell and Dr Paul Upton.
We employ multidisciplinary approaches including protein chemistry, protein engineering, structural biology, biophysical and cell biology assays. We routinely use mammalian cell lines as well as control and patient-derived primary cells for signalling and functional assays.
Group members:
Current:
Dr Jingxu (Jason) Guo
Dr Qiannan Wang
Dr Karolina Kostrzyńska
Dr Lu Long
Miss Kate Quigley
Dr Xudong Yang
Past:
Dr Richard Salmon
Mr He Jiang
Mr Zhenquan Wei
Dr Aleksandra Lawera
Dr Zhen Tong
Dr Bin (Kevin) Liu
Dr Jennifer Wood
Dr Benjamin Constant
Collaborators:
Prof Helen Arthur - Institute of Genetic Medicine, Newcastle University
Professor Peter ten Dijke - Leiden University Medical Center
Publications
- Guo J, Kostrzyńska K, Kamzolas I, Yang X, Thorikay M, De Bie E, Jones RJ, Brownstein A, Long L, Rhodes CJ, Lawrie A, Wilkins MR, Groeneveld E, Tong Z, Goumans M-J, Petsalaki E, Hong J, Toshner MR, Vidal-Puig A, Arthur MA, Li W (2025) Endoglin as a BMP9 co-receptor in vascular endothelial cells: prodomain displacement and TGFBRII recruitment. Nature Communications, 2025 Dec 31. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67531-9. Online ahead of print.
- Dunmore BJ, Moore S, Jones RJ, Hodgson J, Auckland K, Southwood M, Figg N, Kikuchi N, UK National Cohort Study of Idiopathic and Heritable PAH Consortium, the Uniphy Clinical Trials Network, Bennett M, Lawrie A, Rhodes CJ, Toshner MR, Gräf S*, Li W*, Morrell NW* & Upton PD* (2026) BMP9 knockout impairs pulmonary vessel muscularisation and confers aberrant tamoxifen sensitivity. Angiogenesis.29, article number 5. * Joint Senior authors
- Constant B*, Kamzolas I*, Yang X, Guo J, Rodriguez-Fdez S, Mali I, Rodriguez-Cuenca S, Petsalaki E, Vidal-Puig A$ & Li, W$. (2025) Distinct Signaling Dynamics of BMP4 and BMP9 in Brown versus White Adipocytes. Scientific Reports, 15, Article number 15971. $ Joint Senior authors
- Li W*, Quigley K. (2024) Bone morphogenetic protein signalling in pulmonary arterial hypertension: revisiting the BMPRII connection. Biochem Soc Trans. 52: 1515-1528.
- Andersson-Rusch C, Liu B, Quist-Løkken I, Upton PD, Olsen OE, Hella H, Tong Z, Morrell NW, Holien T* and Li W* (2023) Soluble endoglin inhibits BMP9 signaling in non-endothelial cells. Scientific Reports. 13: article number 6639.
- Li W* & Morrell NW (2022) Endothelial Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Encyclopedia of Cell Biology, Second Edition. Volume 6, 2023, Pages 551-562.
- Guo J, Liu B, Thorikay M, Yu M, Li X, Tong Z, Salmon RM, Read RJ, ten Dijke P, Morrell NW & Li W (2022) Crystal structures of BMPRII extracellular domain in binary and ternary receptor complexes with BMP10. Nature Communications 13:2395
- Salmon RM*, Guo J*, Wood JH, Tong Z, Lawera, A, Yu M, Beech JS, Grainger DJ, Reckless, J, Morrell NW and Li W (2020) Molecular basis of ALK1-mediated signaling by BMP9/BMP10 and their prodomain bound forms. Nature Communications, 11, 1621.
