Melanoma cell lines express VEGF receptor KDR and respond to exogenously added VEGF

Tumour-secreted vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) exerts a number of effects which are important in tumour pathology, including stimulation of angiogenesis and permeabilisation of tumour-associated vasculature. In this study we have examined the possibility that VEGF may also play an autocrine role in tumour growth. Using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the expression of VEGF was found in 15/15 human tumour cell lines examined, while the VEGF receptor KDR was detected only in three-melanoma cell lines (MeWo and A375, both wild type and metastatic variant). Exogenously added VEGF (10 ng/ml) was able to stimulate up to 40% increased proliferation of A375 M melanoma cells following a 48-h period of quiescence, suggesting that VEGF may indeed play a role in autocrine, as well as paracrine, stimulation of melanoma growth. (C) 1995 Academic Press.