Abstract
Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in tumor angiogenesis and growth in most solid neoplasia. Materials and Methods: Clonal tumor cell lines expressing varying levels of this pro-angiogenic factor were created via recombinant adeno-associated virus infection of a human (HT29) and rodent (SCCVII) tumor model. Results: The alteration in VEGF expression levels did not significantly impact the in vitro growth rate of the clonal cell lines or the expression levels of other known pro-angiogenic factors. However, the tumors that arose from these clonal cell lines did display significant physiological differences. Up-regulation of VEGF expression increased the in vivo growth rate and the intratumoral vessel density of the resulting tumors and decreased the extent of tumor necrosis. Conclusion: Since the tumor vascular network can impact the efficacy of anti-cancer therapies, these results suggest that VEGF expression may be important to consider in the treatment of cancer.
Footnotes
- Received September 8, 2006.
- Accepted September 15, 2006.
- Copyright © 2006 The Author(s). Published by the International Institute of Anticancer Research.
