Short-term anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment elicits vasculogenic mimicry formation of tumors to accelerate metastasis

• Published in: Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research 2012-02, Vol.31 (1), p.16-16, Article 16
• Main Authors: Xu, Yuan, Li, Qin, Li, Xiao-Yu, Yang, Qiu-Ya, Xu, Wei-Wei, Liu, Gao-Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - administration & dosage; Angiogenesis Inhibitors - pharmacology; Animals; Antiangiogenic therapies; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - administration & dosage; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized - pharmacology; Aqueous solutions; Bevacizumab; Cancer therapies; Cell Hypoxia; Cell Line, Tumor; Drug therapy; Experiments; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Hypoxia; Laboratory animals; Metastasis; Mice; Mice, Nude; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasms - blood supply; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - pathology; Neovascularization, Pathologic - drug therapy; Ovarian cancer; Ovarian Neoplasms - blood supply; Ovarian Neoplasms - drug therapy; Statistical analysis; Tumors; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - antagonists & inhibitors; Vasculogenic mimicry
• ISSN: 1756-9966; 0392-9078; 1756-9966
• DOI: 10.1186/1756-9966-31-16

Antiangiogenic therapy is one of the most significant advances in anticancer treatment. The benefits of antiangiogenic therapies of late-stage cancers have been investigated but are still too limited. We used an ovarian cancer model to test the effect of short-term bevacizumab treatment on metastasis as measured by bioluminescence. Western blotting and CD34-PAS dual staining were performed to assess hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α (HIF-1α) expression and vasculogenic mimicry(VM) formation. Cell viability was examined by a CCK8 assay. Bevacizumab demonstrated antitumor effects in models of ovarian cancer, but also accelerated metastasis together, with marked hypoxia and VM formation in mice receiving short-term therapy. Bevacizumab treatment did not affect SKOV3 cell viability and the amount of VM in three-dimensional culture. These results suggest that antiangiogenic therapy may potentially influence the progression of metastatic disease, which has been linked to the hypoxic response and VM formation.