ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE Our previous studies demonstrated that various ingredients from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, as exemplified by cryptotanshinone and salvi?anolic acid B, exerted striking effects on modulating angiogenesis and vascular permeability, which suggests that they may be effective in treating vascular leak-driven diseases (e.g. tumor, cerebral cavernous malformation and diabetic reti?nopathy). However, the lack of reliable and advanced technologies and models sets up difficult hurdles for better under?standing the role of TCM for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. To this end, this study is to outline numerous cutting-edge platforms that can be utilized for exploring the function of TCM for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis in vascular leak-driven diseases. METHODS Two-photon laser scanning fluorescence micros?copy was used to observe the interactions between neutrophils and blood vessels in a real-time manner. Dynamic flow system was employed to mimic the in vivo behaviors of neutrophils. RIP1-Tag5 spontaneous pancreatic cancer model was used to study the function of tumor blood vessels. CCM2ECKO (deletion of CCM2 in endothelial cells) mice were employed to establish the cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) animal model. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) was utilized to assess the CCM lesion. Müller cell-knockout mouse model was used to study the progression of dia?betic retinopathy. Vascular permeability in this model was assessed by fluorescein angiography. RESULTS The interac?tions between neutrophils and endothelial cells involve a series of complicated processes, including rolling, adhesion, intraluminal crawling and transmigration, which were all monitored in vivo by two-photon laser scanning fluorescence microscopy in a real-time manner. Dynamic flow system was capable of recapitulating the biological behaviors of neutro?phils in vitro. Tumor vascular function in particular vascular perfusion could be assessed in the RIP1-Tag5 spontaneous pancreatic cancer model. In terms of CCM studies, specific deletion of CCM2 in endothelial cells resulted in the initiation of CCM lesion. The size and number of CCM lesions could be visualized and quantified by micro-CT. Furthermore, the Müller cell-knockout mouse model was able to precisely reflect the clinical symptoms of diabetic retinopathy. Vascular leak could be monitored at different time points using fluorescein angiography. CONCLUSION An array of high technol?ogies and animal models can be used in investigating the occurrence and progression of multiple vascular leak-driven diseases. The pre-clinical and clinical studies of TCM for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis provide fundamental support for the application of the above-mentioned platforms, with the purpose of uncovering the scientific basis of TCM for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the targeting and anti-tumor ability of the tumor vessel-specific antibody ScFvH1 selected from phage-ScFv library, and to discuss the application of the antibody in clinical diagnosis and therapy of cancer. Methods: The ScFvH1 gene was inserted into pET-28a(+)/EGFP vector containing green fluorescent protein(GFP) gene and pTIG-Trx vector containing thioredoxin gene; the products were then expressed in E.coli and purified by using Ni-NTA. Tumor-bearing mice model was established by subcutanuous injection of cervical cancer cell line HeLa. The mice were injected with purified ScFv-EGFP fusion protein through vena caudalis and the GFP signals were observed by fluorescent microscope to evaluate the targeting ability of the antibody. Meanwhile, the mice model also received intratumoral injection of purified ScFv-EGFP fusion protein to evaluate the anti-tumor effect of the antibody. Results: Soluble ScFvH1 gene and ScFvH1-EGFP protein were successfully expressed in E.coli; a single band was showed in SDS-PAGE after the purification by Ni-NTA. We found that ScFvH1-EGFP fusion protein was enriched to tumor tissues, but there was only weak fluorescent signal when EGFP protein was injected. No EGFP signal was observed in the lung of tumor-bearing mice. Tumor inhibition experiment showed that the tumor growth in the antibody treatment group was similar to that of the PBS control group. Conclusion: The tumor vessel-specific antibody ScFvH1 selected from phage-ScFv library can specifically target tumor vessels, but it has no obvious inhibitory effect on tumor growth. Our findings pave a way for antibody in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
ABSTRACT
Objective:To obtain phage-displayed ScFv library targeting tumor tissues and to screen for antibodies specifically binding to tumor vessels using in vivo phage display,so as to lay a foundation for diagnosis and treatment of cancer.Methods:The membrane proteins were extracted from the specimens of esophageal carcinoma,stomach carcinoma,brain cancer,lung cancer,and spinal cord tumor.The recombinant phage-antibody system was used to construct a single-chain Fv fragment(ScFv)cDNA library from the total RNA of the BALB/c mice immunized with purified membrane protein.The specific primers of VH and VL were used to amplify the cDNA of VH and VL,respectively,which were then assembled into ScFv gene with a specially constructed linker DNA.The ScFv gene was ligated into the phagemid vector pCANTAB 5E and the ligated samples were transformed into competent E.coli TG1.The transformed cells were infected with M13KO7 helper phage to yield recombinant phage.Using the animal model of human cervical carcinoma(HeLa cells),sepecific phage-ScFvs were selected by phage displaying and panning in vivo.After four rounds,24 phage-ScFvs,which were identified by PCR,were analyzed immunohistochemically.The ScFvs expressed in the tumor tissue slices and negative in control kidney tissue slices were sequenced.Results:Tomors-bearing animal models were established with 7 different kinds of carcinoma cell lines in BALB/c nude mice.It was found that inoculation with HeLa cells resulted in most satisfactory tumorigenesis in nude mice.A ScFv library of 1.6?106 was obtained and a tumor vessel specific phage-ScFv named ScFvH1(VH-linker-VL)was selected from the library.Conclusion:A tumor targeting ScFv library has been successfully constructed and a tumor vessel-specifrc antibody has been identified from the library,which provides a new way for the early diagnosis and therapy of cancer.