title: Human ovarian cancer ascites fluid contains a mixture of incompletely degraded soluble products of fibrin that collectively possess an antiangiogenic property.
abstract: Ovarian cancer ascites fluid (OCAF) displayed an antiangiogenic property in a chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. This property was attributed in part to angiostatin although angiostatin-free OCAF retained a net antiangiogenic property. Recently, immunopurified fibrin(ogen) degradation products (FDPs) from malignant effusions of VX2 tumor-burdened rabbits exhibited antiangiogenic activity on the CAM. We questioned whether the FDPs of OCAF were also antiangiogenic. FDPs were immunopurified from individual OCAF samples, characterized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis /western blots, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, and CAM assays. FDPs of OCAFs consisted of soluble high molecular weight (MW) fragments (>200 kd; approximately 40% of total FDPs), D-dimer (approximately 180 kd; approximately 37%), fragment D (approximately 90 kd; approximately 15%), and fragment E (approximately 50 kd; approximately 8%); intact fibrinogen was absent. When applied to CAM surfaces (0.5-1.6 mg/10 mL), purified FDPs significantly reduced the area of chorionic capillaries from 90% (in controls) to 47% over a 48-h period; from CAM sections, capillary density was reduced from 60% (controls) to 26%. FDPs prepared from fibrinogen displayed a similar antiangiogenic effect. Further digestion of OCAF FDPs by human plasmin caused degradation of high MW fragments, releasing additional D-dimer, fragment D, and fragment E. Of the fibrinogen-related components, OCAF contained only soluble FDPs (including incompletely digested fibrin fragments). Collectively, these FDPs contributed to the net antiangiogenic property of ascites fluid.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jandu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirte
authors.forename: M W C
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Hatton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002645:Chickens; D002823:Chorion / Q000098:blood supply / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005337:Fibrin / Q000378:metabolism*; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005341:Fibrinolysin / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; D005337:Fibrin; D005341:Fibrinolysin