[The expression and significance of vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with various metastatic potentialities].
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether or not vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors were expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with various metastatic potentialities.


METHODS
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot were employed to study the expressions of VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, VEGF-A and VEGF-B in four hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines MHCC97-H, MHCC97-L, SMMC7721 and HepG-2 and one normal liver cell line L-02.


RESULTS
Three hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (MHCC97-H, MHCC97-L, SMMC7721) expressed VEGFR-1 mRNA and their proteins. The expression level of VEGFR-1 in MHCC97-H was higher than that in MHCC97-L (P less than 0.05) and the expression level of VEGFR-1 in MHCC97-L was higher than that in SMMC7721 (P less than 0.05). No expression of VEGFR-1 was found in HepG-2 or L-02. All four hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and the L-02 cell line expressed VEGFR-2 mRNA and the protein, as well as the VEGFR-1 ligands VEGF-A and VEGF-B. The expression level of VEGFR-2 in all tested hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and normal liver cell line L-02 showed no significant differences (P more than 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
VEGFR-1 was expressed in 4 hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines with various metastatic potentialities. The expression levels appeared to be positively correlated with the potentialities of metastasis of the hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. VEGFR-1 may relate to the invasiveness and metastatic potential of the hepatocellular carcinoma.
Ai
Jun-Hua
JH
Southwest Hospital and Institute of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China. aijh0001@163.com
Zheng
Shu-Guo
SG
Zeng
Yong-Yi
YY
Xiong
Yan
Y
Zhang
Lei-da
LD
Dong
Jia-Hong
JH
D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism*; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000378:metabolism*
C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1