Placental growth factor is a survival factor for tumor endothelial cells and macrophages

A Adini, T Kornaga, F Firoozbakht, LE Benjamin - Cancer research, 2002 - AACR
A Adini, T Kornaga, F Firoozbakht, LE Benjamin
Cancer research, 2002AACR
The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related factor, placental growth factor (PlGF),
has been shown recently to play an important role in pathological VEGF-driven
angiogenesis. In this study, we examine the effects of mPlGF/PlGF-2 overexpression in
tumors grown from glioma cells containing a tetracycline-regulated mPlGF cDNA.
Overexpression of mPlGF leads to increased tumor growth and vascular survival. When
tetracycline is used to abruptly withdraw mPlGF overexpression, we see increased …
Abstract
The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related factor, placental growth factor (PlGF),has been shown recently to play an important role in pathological VEGF-driven angiogenesis.In this study, we examine the effects of mPlGF/PlGF-2 overexpression in tumors grown from glioma cells containing a tetracycline-regulated mPlGF cDNA. Overexpression of mPlGF leads to increased tumor growth and vascular survival. When tetracycline is used to abruptly withdraw mPlGF overexpression, we see increased apoptosis in both vascular cells and macrophages. In addition, PlGF-2 induces survival gene expression and inhibits apoptosis in vitro. Thus, we propose that PlGF-2 contributes to tumor angiogenesis by providing increased survival function to endothelial cells and macrophages.
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