Platelet factor-4 and its p17-70 peptide inhibit myeloma proliferation and angiogenesis in vivo

• Published in: BMC cancer Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 261
• Main Authors: Yang, Longjiang, Du, Juan, Hou, Jian, Jiang, Hua, Zou, Jianfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 21-06-2011; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Disease Models, Animal; Endothelial Cells - pathology; Genetic aspects; HEK293 Cells; Humans; Immunoglobulin Light Chains - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Nude; Multiple myeloma; Multiple Myeloma - mortality; Multiple Myeloma - physiopathology; Neovascularization; Neovascularization, Pathologic - genetics; Neovascularization, Pathologic - metabolism; Peptides - genetics; Peptides - metabolism; Physiological aspects; Platelet Factor 4 - genetics; Platelet Factor 4 - metabolism; Rabbits; Survival Analysis; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - metabolism; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays; China
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2407-11-261

Angiogenesis plays an important role in the development of multiple myeloma (MM). The interaction between MM cells and the bone marrow microenvironment stimulates the proliferation and migration of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) contributes to the formation of new blood vessels by actively recruiting circulating EPCs. The production of proangiogenic and antiangiogenic factors is also dysregulated in MM. Platelet factor 4 (PF4) is a potent angiostatic cytokine that inhibits angiogenesis and tumor growth in several animal models.
In this study, we stably transfected human myeloma cell lines with the PF4 gene or the sequence encoding its more potent p17-70 peptide and investigated the effects of PF4 and p17-70 on angiogenesis and tumor growth in vitro and in a SCID-rab myeloma model.
PF4 and p17-70 significantly attenuated VEGF production, both in vitro and in vivo. In a migration study using a Transwell system, PF4 or p17-70 markedly suppressed the migration of co-cultured human endothelial progenitor cells. PF4 or p17-70 also caused a significant reduction in microvessel densities in myeloma xenografts and markedly reduced the tumor volume in the SCID mice. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that PF4 and p17-70 significantly extended the overall survival of SCID mice bearing human myeloma xenografts.
Our findings indicate that PF4 or p17-70 could be valuable in combating multiple myeloma by disrupting tumor angiogenesis.