Fig. 3.

Proangiogenic vs. Homeostatic Activities of BMP Signaling. Pro-angiogenic activities of endothelial cells include junction destabilization, migration, proliferation, and vessel branching, while homeostatic activities include strengthened junctions, barrier function, maintenance of vessel caliber, and vascular pruning, regression, and remodeling. BMP2, BMP4, and BMP6 have clear pro-angiogenic effects while ENG, BMP9, BMP10, and ALK1 have mostly homeostatic effects on endothelial cells. However, there is overlap in the effects of the other endothelial BMP components, including ALK2, ALK3, BMPR2, SMAD1/5/8, SMAD4, and SMAD6 that indicate a mixture of pro-angiogenic and homeostatic contributions that may be context-dependent