肿瘤组织缺氧诱导VEGF表达的分子机制

血管新生是恶性肿瘤生长、浸润和转移的前提条件,血管内皮生长因子是体内最重要的血管生长因子之一,而缺氧又是诱导肿瘤血管内皮生长因子表达的主要因素,本文对肿瘤组织缺氧诱导血管内皮生长因子表达的分子机制进行综述。     

缺氧诱导血管新生机制的研究新进展

缺氧是机体在缺血、肿瘤等病理因素或高原环境下局部或整体出现的一种内环境状态。大量的研究表明,缺氧可以诱导相应组织血管新生。近年来,我们已逐渐认识到,缺氧可以通过调节几种生长因子的表达以及炎症介质的直接或间接作用促进血管的新生,其中又以血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)及其受体的研究较为深人。对于这些机制的研究,为临床治疗缺血或肿瘤性疾病以及研究高原习服等问题提供了有价值的参考。     

低氧诱导因子家族与肺癌的研究进展

低氧诱导因子-1α的肿瘤表达谱相当广泛;同时HIF-1α在肿瘤特别是肺癌的演进中扮演重要角色HIF-1α已被列为肿瘤分子靶向治疗的重要目标蛋白之一.低氧诱导因子家族生物学特性、各因子的表达差异及其调控许多目的基因如血红素加氧酶,血管内皮生长因子等表达的发现,对理解许多与组织缺氧有关的重要疾病如肺癌的病理生理过程有重要意义.     

高氧对雄激素敏感的前列腺癌细胞移植瘤生长及其缺氧诱导因子-1α表达的影响

目的:探讨高氧对雄激素敏感的前列腺癌细胞移植瘤生长及其缺氧诱导因子-1α表达的影响。方法:将前列腺癌前列腺淋巴结癌(LNCa P)细胞接种于36只Foxn1小鼠的双侧腹,并将其随机放置于含氧量不同的气室中并分组如下:缺氧组11例,常氧组16例,高氧组9例。处理28天后进行称重,麻醉处死,从左心室取血样;分离出移植瘤并进行称重。采用Western blotting、免疫荧光分析、血红蛋白测定的方法对各组移植瘤生长、血管生成及血管化、缺氧诱导因子-1(HIF-1α)表达以及细胞信号转导因子表达进行检测。结果:缺氧组的移植瘤生长较常氧组快(P0.05);高氧组移植瘤生长与常氧组相比差异不具有统计学意义(P0.05)。高氧组移植瘤的HIF-1α、血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)和血管内皮生长因子受体2(VEGF-R2)表达均较常氧组高,而缺氧组移植瘤的HIF-1α表达与常氧组基本相似。缺氧组移植瘤的血[HB]增长率(175%)高于常氧组(45%)。高氧组的Nrf2的表达水平较常氧组明显增加(P0.05)。结论:体内高氧诱导HIF-1α在LNCa P肿瘤高表达的同时,不会加快肿瘤的生长。     

shRNA下调MTDH基因抑制人乳腺癌MCF-7细胞HIF-1α及VEGF表达

目的：探讨转移粘附基因（metadherin,MTDH）的表达对人乳腺癌细胞中肿瘤血管生成相关分子标志物缺氧诱导因子-1α（HIF-1α）及血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）表达的影响。方法：将针对MTDH基因的干扰质粒MTDH-shRNA转染乳腺癌MCF-7细胞,RT-PCR及Western blot验证其对MTDH基因的沉默效果;应用Western blot检测转染前后MCF-7细胞中缺氧诱导因子-1α（HIF-1α）及血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）在蛋白水平上的表达变化;MTT实验检测下调MTDH对MCF-7细胞增殖情况的影响。结果：MCF-7细胞转染48小时后,MTDH-shRNA转染组和MTDH-shRNA-neg转染组转染效率约70%。MTDH-shRNA转染组中MTDH在mRNA及蛋白水平上表达明显下调,此外HIF-1α及VEGF蛋白表达明显降低,与对照组比较差异有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。MTDH-shRNA转染组MCF-7细胞增殖明显受到抑制,与对照组比较差异有统计学意义（P〈0.05）。结论：在乳腺癌MCF-7细胞中下调MTDH基因可以抑制HIF-1α、VEGF表达及细胞增殖,提示MTDH基因可能对乳腺癌肿瘤血管生成有促进作用。     

NADPH氧化酶与HIF-α在肿瘤中的相互调控

烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸磷酸(NADPH)氧化酶是胞内活性氧簇(ROS)的主要来源,ROS在多种肿瘤的发生发展中起重要作用,但其具体的致病机制并非十分明确。缺氧诱导因子(HIF)通过调控其下游的多个靶基因如促红细胞生成素(EPO)、血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)、葡萄糖转运子(GLUT)进而促进肿瘤血管生成、细胞能量代谢和肿瘤转移等。在肿瘤内NADPH氧化酶介导的ROS通过多种信号途径上调HIF-α的表达;与此同时,HIF-α也能通过ROS调控NADPH氧化酶的表达,从而进一步促进肿瘤的发生发展。     

子宫内膜癌血管生成相关因子的研究进展

血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）是近年研究较广泛的参与内皮细胞活化和血管生成的重要因子,它通过与其特异性受体结合发挥生物学作用。缺氧诱导因子-1α（HIF-1α）是缺氧条件下被激活,参与肿瘤发生、发展的一类核转录因子,通过激活下游基因发挥促进肿瘤血管生成的作用。葡萄糖转运蛋白（GULT-1）是新近研究发现的与子宫内膜癌血管生成相关的因子。血小板衍化生长因子（PDGF）一类重要的促有丝分裂多肽生长因子。其在肿瘤血管新生中的作用有待于进一步研究。目前许多研究发现,以上几种因子与子宫内膜癌关系密切,直接或间接参与了子宫内膜癌的病理生理过程。对这几种因子的深入研究将为子宫内膜癌的防治与抗血管生成治疗提供新的理论依据及治疗靶点。     

人血管内皮生长因子受体KDR胞外3区的表达与配体结合活性的鉴定

血管内皮生长因子受体(VEGFR)是血管内皮生长因子的特异性受体,VEGFR-2在介导VEGF刺激内皮细胞增殖及血管通透性等生物学活性中起重要作用.在大肠杆菌中实现可溶性的人血管内皮生长因子受体KDR胞外3区的表达,并鉴定其与配体结合的活性.采用重叠PCR的方法合成人血管内皮生长因子受体KDR胞外3区基因,将该基因与高效表达载体pET-32a重组,转化大肠杆菌Rosetta(DE3)中,表达产物依次经过CM阳离子交换树脂和镍柱亲和层析纯化.利用ELISA法和体外抑制VEGF刺激的人脐静脉内皮细胞增殖实验检测表达产物与配体结合的活性.SDS-PAGE显示,目的蛋白主要以可溶性Trx-KDR3融合蛋白表达于胞质,30℃时1 mmol/L IPTG诱导细菌5 h融合蛋白表达量约占胞质可溶性总蛋白的20%,经CM阳离子交换树脂和镍柱亲合层析纯化得到纯度为95%的产物,Western blotting鉴定是目的蛋白.ELISA和体外HUVEC细胞增殖实验显示,表达产物具有特异性结合hVEGF165的活性,且该作用呈一定的浓度依赖性.具有配体特异性结合活性的可溶性人血管内皮生长因子受体KDR胞外3区成功表达,为靶向血管抗肿瘤治疗和相关抗体的研究奠定了基础.     

血管内皮生长因子单链抗体在大肠埃希菌中的高效表达

以血管内皮生长因子单链抗体(pTA-anti-VEGF-scFv)为研究对象,考察不同培养基配方和培养条件对血管内皮生长因子单链抗体表达量的影响。经均匀设计试验,确定工程菌R22-4高效表达重组抗体的最佳培养基为以2×YT培养基为基础,添加质量分数为0.3%葡萄糖、1.0%酪蛋白胨、0.4%玉米浆、0.133%KH_2PO_4、0.159 6%K_2HPO_4、0.532%NaCl、0.01%微量元素、0.04%维生素B_1;诱导条件为30℃、0.1 mmol/L IPTG(异丙基硫代半乳糖苷,Isopropylβ-D-Thiogalactoside)诱导5 h。经ELISA (酶联免疫吸附测定,enzyme linked immunosorbent assay)检测,血管内皮生长因子单链抗体的表达量是原始对照组的2.27倍,实现了血管内皮生长因子单链抗体在大肠埃希菌中的高效表达。     

血管内皮生长因子受体信号转导通路与肿瘤血管生成

血管内皮生长因子是促进血管生成的重要调节因子.它能促进内皮细胞增殖、迁移,阻止内皮细胞凋亡、管腔网状结构退化,增加血管渗透性.所有这些作用都是通过血管内皮生长因子受体信号转导通路实现的.它们在肿瘤血管生成、肿瘤生长中起着重要的作用.以血管内皮生长因子受体信号转导通路为靶点是开发肿瘤血管生成抑制剂的理想策略.     

Constitutive and inducible expression and regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which was originally discovered as vascular permeability factor, is critical to human cancer angiogenesis through its potent functions as a stimulator of endothelial cell survival, mitogenesis, migration, differentiation and self-assembly, as well as vascular permeability, immunosuppression and mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells from the bone marrow into the peripheral circulation. Genetic alterations and a chaotic tumor microenvironment, such as hypoxia, acidosis, free radicals, and cytokines, are clearly attributed to numerous abnormalities in the expression and signaling of VEGF and its receptors. These perturbations confer a tremendous survival and growth advantage to vascular endothelial cells as manifested by exuberant tumor angiogenesis and a consequent malignant phenotype. Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of both inducible and constitutive VEGF expression will be crucial in designing effective therapeutic strategies targeting VEGF to control tumor growth and metastasis. In this review, molecular regulation of VEGF expression in tumor cells is discussed.     

Estrogen-dependent growth of a rat pituitary tumor involves,but does not require,a high level of vascular endothelial growth factor

Long-term (10-week) treatment of Fischer 344 (F344) rats with the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) increases the level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pituitary. This is concurrent with the development of a large tumor of the pituitary of F344 rats. A role for VEGF in estrogen-dependent pituitary tumor growth is also supported by the fact that pituitary VEGF level is not increased by estrogen treatment in rats of the tumor-resistant Brown Norway (BN) strain. However, VEGF is not increased by estrogen treatment in an F(1) hybrid of F344 and BN, even though F(1) hybrid rats do form pituitary tumors in response to estrogen. Quantitative trait locus (QLT) mapping reveals that control of estrogen-dependent VEGF expression is linked to the Edpm5 QTL, which was previously identified as a QTL for estrogen-dependent pituitary tumor growth. In contrast, the QTL Edpm2-1 and Edpm9-2, which have been shown to each have a significant effect on estrogen-dependent pituitary mass of a magnitude similar to Edpm5, do not have any effect on VEGF level. Taken together, our results support the association of VEGF expression with growth of the estrogen-induced rat pituitary tumor, as has been reported by others, but they also indicate that there is significant pathways of growth regulation that are independent of high-level VEGF expression.     

Benzyl isothiocyanate suppresses pancreatic tumor angiogenesis and invasion by inhibiting HIF-α/VEGF/Rho-GTPases: pivotal role of STAT-3

Our previous studies have shown that benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) suppresses pancreatic tumor growth by inhibiting STAT-3; however, the exact mechanism of tumor growth suppression was not clear. Here we evaluated the effects and mechanism of BITC on pancreatic tumor angiogenesis. Our results reveal that BITC significantly inhibits neovasularization on rat aorta and Chicken-Chorioallantoic membrane. Furthermore, BITC blocks the migration and invasion of BxPC-3 and PanC-1 pancreatic cancer cells in a dose dependant manner. Moreover, secretion of VEGF and MMP-2 in normoxic and hypoxic BxPC-3 and PanC-1 cells was significantly suppressed by BITC. Both VEGF and MMP-2 play a critical role in angiogenesis and metastasis. Our results reveal that BITC significantly suppresses the phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 (Tyr-1175), and expression of HIF-α. Rho-GTPases, which are regulated by VEGF play a crucial role in pancreatic cancer progression. BITC treatment reduced the expression of RhoC whereas up-regulated the expression of tumor suppressor RhoB. STAT-3 over-expression or IL-6 treatment significantly induced HIF-1α and VEGF expression; however, BITC substantially suppressed STAT-3 as well as STAT-3-induced HIF-1α and VEGF expression. Finally, in vivo tumor growth and matrigel-plug assay show reduced tumor growth and substantial reduction of hemoglobin content in the matrigel plugs and tumors of mice treated orally with 12 μmol BITC, indicating reduced tumor angiogenesis. Immunoblotting of BITC treated tumors show reduced expression of STAT-3 phosphorylation (Tyr-705), HIF-α, VEGFR-2, VEGF, MMP-2, CD31 and RhoC. Taken together, our results suggest that BITC suppresses pancreatic tumor growth by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis through STAT-3-dependant pathway.     

Gene Expression of Neuropilin-1 and Its Receptors,VEGF/Semaphorin 3a,in Normal and Cancer Cells

Extracellular domains of the transmembrane glycoprotein, neuropilin-1 (Np1), specifically bind an array of factors and co-receptors including class-3 semaphorins (Sema3a), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hepatocyte growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor BB, transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β1), and fibroblast growth factor2 (FGF2). Np1 may have a role in immune response, tumor cell growth, and angiogenesis, but its relative expression in comparison to its co-primary receptors, VEGF and Sema3a, is not known. In this study we determined the mRNA expression of Np1 and its co-receptors, VEGF and Sema3a, and the ratio of VEGF/Sema3a in different human and rodent cell lines. Expression of Np1, VEGF and Sema3a is very low in cells derived from normal tissues, but these proteins are highly expressed in tumor-derived cells. Furthermore, the ratio of VEGF/Sema3a is highly variable in different tumor cells. The elevated mRNA expression of Np1 and its putative receptors in tumor cells suggests a role for these proteins in tumor cell migration and angiogenesis. As different tumor cells exhibit varying VEGF/Sema3a ratios, it appears that cancer cells show differential response to angiogenic factors. These results bring to light the individual variation among the cancer-related genes, Np1, VEGF, and Sema3a, and provide an important impetus for the possible personalized therapeutic approaches for cancer patients.     

VEGF-specific siRNAs modified with 2′-deoxy effectively suppress VEGF expression and inhibit growth of nasopharyngeal carcinoma xenograft in a mouse model

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is up-regulated in the vast majority of human tumors. The up-regulation of VEGF not only plays important roles in tumor angiogenesis, but also provides a target for tumor treatment with small interfering RNA (siRNA) that targets VEGF; however, it is unclear whether a quite high up-regulation of VEGF will affect the efficiency of RNA interference strategies targeting VEGF. A high level expression of VEGF was found in CNE cells from a nasopharyngeal car-cinoma cell line. In this study, we investigate whether VEGF-specific siRNAs can effectively suppress VEGF expression in CNE cells, and study the methods for the use of VEGF-specific siRNAs as potential therapeutic agents. CNE cells with high VEGF expression induced by hypoxia were transfected with VEGF-specific siRNAs. The expression of VEGF was effectively suppressed by VEGF-specific siRNAs, measured by ELISA, Western blot analysis and RT-PCR. Furthermore, experiments in nude mice bear-ing nasopharyngeal carcinoma xenograft were initiated 5 d after injection of CNE cells. VEGF-specific siRNAs were modified with 2′-deoxy, then injected into the tumors, and a liposome-mediated siRNA transfection system and ultrasound exposure were used to help delivery of the siRNAs. Tumor growth was reduced significantly after 3 weeks’ treatment. These studies suggest that VEGF-specific siRNAs still can effectively suppress VEGF expression even in tumor cell lines with a relatively high level of VEGF expression, such as CNE, and VEGF-specific siRNAs modified with 2′-deoxy can be used as po-tential agents for tumor therapy.     

PI3K/PTEN/AKT signaling regulates prostate tumor angiogenesis

PI3K pathway exerts its function through its downstream molecule AKT in regulating various cell functions including cell proliferation, cell transformation, cell apoptosis, tumor growth and angiogenesis. PTEN is an inhibitor of PI3K, and its loss or mutation is common in human prostate cancer. But the direct role and mechanism of PI3K/PTEN signaling in regulating angiogenesis and tumor growth in vivo remain to be elucidated. In this study, by using chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and in nude mice models, we demonstrated that inhibition of PI3K activity by LY294002 decreased PC-3 cells-induced angiogenesis. Reconstitution of PTEN, the molecular inhibitor of PI3K in PC-3 cells inhibited angiogenesis and tumor growth. Immunohistochemical staining indicated that PTEN expression suppressed HIF-1, VEGF and PCNA expression in the tumor xenographs. Similarly, expression of AKT dominant negative mutant also inhibited angiogenesis and tumor growth, and decreased the expression of HIF-1 and VEGF in the tumor xenographs. These results suggest that inhibition of PI3K signaling pathway by PTEN inhibits tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth. In addition, we found that AKT is the downstream target of PI3K in controlling angiogenesis and tumor growth, and PTEN could inhibit angiogenesis by regulating the expression of HIF-1 and VEGF expression through AKT activation in PC-3 cells.     

Regulation of angiogenesis and tumor growth by p110 alpha and AKT1 via VEGF expression

Recent studies demonstrate that PI3K activation and PTEN mutation are frequently found in many human cancer cells and tissues. However, the mechanism of PI3K signaling in human cancer tumorigenesis remains to be elucidated. In this study we specifically downregulated p110alpha expression in ovarian cancer cells using siRNA interference. We found that p110alpha downregulation greatly decreased ovarian tumor growth and angiogenesis, and that p110alpha siRNA inhibited VEGF expression through decreasing hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha expression in both ovarian cancer cells and tumor tissues. To determine the downstream targets of PI3K in regulating tumor growth and angiogenesis, we find that AKT1 is a major downstream mediator for regulating tumor growth, angiogenesis, and VEGF expression. These data show that p110alpha and AKT1 play an important role in tumor growth by inducing angiogenesis and by increasing HIF-1alpha and VEGF expression. This work provides a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of human cancer induced by the activation of PI3K signaling.