Oncofetal reprogramming of the tumor vasculature
Certain embryonic genes, such as carcinoembryonic antigens (CEA) and oncofetal antigens, become re-expressed in malignant transformation and we hypothesized that a similar phenomenon features tumor endothelial cells as well. Therefore, we performed a systematic search for mouse embryo-specific gene expression at days E11 and E18 in comparison to adult mouse and queried for overexpression of these genes in sorted murine tumor endothelial cells. Overall design: Whole mouse embryo (E11, N=4; E18, N=4), whole adult mouse (N=2), sorted tumor endothelial cells from murine B16F10 melanoma (N=2), sorted pooled (N=2 mice) normal endothelial cells from mouse organs (N=1)