title: Down-regulation of cellular vascular endothelial growth factor levels induces differentiation of leukemic cells to functional leukemic-dendritic cells in acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: We examined the effect of cellular vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels on the generation of leukemic dendritic cells (DCs). Leukemic DCs were successfully generated in vitro from bone marrow cells of 16 of 21 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, and the cellular VEGF concentrations in the leukemic cells and the neutralization of VEGF with anti-VEGF antibody were determined. AML cells that failed to generate leukemic DCs showed significantly higher cellular VEGF levels compared with generated leukemic DCs, and down-regulation of cellular VEGF levels induced the generation of leukemic DCs from AML cells. Inhibition of cellular VEGF levels increased interleukin (IL)-12 production and the allostimulatory capacity of leukemic DCs. These results suggest that the generation of leukemic DCs from AML cells is inversely related to the VEGF production of the cells and that the down-regulation of cellular VEGF levels can induce potential differentiation of leukemic cells to functional leukemic DCs in patients with AML.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Jung-Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sang-Ki
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bo-Hwa
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Than-Nhan Nguyen
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Xiao-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Duck
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jong-Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Young-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Joon-Haeng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: Ik-Joo
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Hyeoung-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Je-Jung
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A