Angiopoietin 1 promotes tumor angiogenesis and tumor vessel plasticity of human cervical cancer in mice

Angiopoietins have been increasingly implicated to play important roles in blood vessel formation, remodeling, maturation, and maintenance. However, their roles in tumor angiogenesis and hence tumor growth and metastasis still remain uncertain. In this work, angiopoietin 1 expression was amplified in human cervical cancer HeLa cells by stable transfection or recombinant human adenovirus-mediated gene transfer. We show that increased angiopoietin 1 expression promoted in vivo growth of human cervical cancers in mice by promoting tumor angiogenesis and inhibiting tumor cell apoptosis. Furthermore, we also show for the first time that overexpression of angiopoietin 1 also leads to increased tumor vessel plasticity with a large number of vessels lacking periendothelial supporting cells. These results indicate that angiopoietin 1 promotes tumor angiogenesis and tumor vessel plasticity of human cervical cancer in mice. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).