Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 is involved in tumor angiogenesis and growth.
Cancer Res
; 67(2): 593-9, 2007 Jan 15.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-17234768
ABSTRACT
Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) binds VEGF-C and VEGF-D and is essential for the development of the lymphatic vasculature. Experimental tumors that overexpress VEGFR-3 ligands induce lymphatic vessel sprouting and enlargement and show enhanced metastasis to regional lymph nodes and beyond, whereas a soluble form of VEGFR-3 that blocks receptor signaling inhibits these changes and metastasis. Because VEGFR-3 is also essential for the early blood vessel development in embryos and is up-regulated in tumor angiogenesis, we wanted to determine if an antibody targeting the receptor that interferes with VEGFR-3 ligand binding can inhibit primary tumor growth. Our results show that antibody interference with VEGFR-3 function can inhibit the growth of several human tumor xenografts in immunocompromised mice. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the blood vessel density of anti-VEGFR-3-treated tumors was significantly decreased and hypoxic and necrotic tumor tissue was increased when compared with tumors treated with control antibody, indicating that blocking of the VEGFR-3 pathway inhibits angiogenesis in these tumors. As expected, the anti-VEGFR-3-treated tumors also lacked lymphatic vessels. These results suggest that the VEGFR-3 pathway contributes to tumor angiogenesis and that effective inhibition of tumor progression may require the inhibition of multiple angiogenic targets.
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Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Receptor 3 de Factores de Crecimiento Endotelial Vascular
/
Anticuerpos Monoclonales
/
Neoplasias
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Año:
2007
Tipo del documento:
Article