Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) stimulating angiogenesis is required for tumor growth and progression. The conventional VEGF-A isoforms have been considered as pro-angiogenic factors. Another family of VEGF-A isoforms generated by alternative splicing, termed VEGFxxxb isoforms, has anti-angiogenic property, exemplified by VEGF165b. Here, we identify a new number of VEGFxxx family-VEGF111b induced by mitomycin C, although not detected in mitomycin C-unexposed ovarian cancer cells. SKOV3 cells were transfected with pcDNA3.1 empty vector, pcDNA3.1-VEGF111b or pcDNA3.1-VEGF165b to collect conditioned mediums respectively. VEGF111b overexpression inhibits proliferation, migration and tube formation of endothelial cell by inhibiting VEGF-R2 phosphorylation and its downstream signaling, similar to VEGF165b but slightly lower than VEGF165b. The anti-angiogenic property depends on the six amino acids of exon 8b of the VEGFxxxb isoforms. Our results show that VEGF111b is a novel potent anti-angiogenic agent that can target the VEGF-R2 and its signaling pathway to inhibit ovarian tumor growth.
Keywords: Anti-angiogenesis; DSS; FBS; HRP; HUVECs; PSS; RT-PCR; Splice variant; VEGF; VEGF receptor; VEGF-R; VEGFR-2; VEGFxxxb; fetal bovine serum; horseradish peroxidase; human umbilical vein endothelial cells; istal splice site; proximal splice site; reverse transcriptase-PCR; vascular endothelial growth factor.
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