Patterns of VEGF production in hematopoietic malignant cell lines

Objective:Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a cytokine which is overexpressed in manymalignant cancers including leukemia. VEGF plays an important role in tumor invasion andmetastasis. Determination the pattern of VEGF expression in human leukemic cell lines couldbe useful not only in screening of new anti leukemic agents but also study the mechanism oftheir action. In the present study the patterns of VEGF production in some human leukemiccell lines has been assessed in vitro.Materials and Methods:Three human leukemic cell lines (Molt-4, Jurkat and U937) were used in this study. The cellswere cultured in complete RPMI medium and then incubated with different concentrations ofphorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or phytoheamagglutinin (PHA) for 48 hours. The level ofVEGF secreted in the cell culture supernatants was measured with enzyme-linkedimmunosorbent assay kits (R and D systems).Results:U937 cells produced a large amount of VEGF without any stimulus and PHA/PMA did notshow any substantial effect on VEGF production by U937 cells. However Molt-4 and Jurkatcells, produced VEGF less than U937 when cultured alone (with no stimulation) andPMA/PHA significantly increased the VEGF production in these cells dose- dependently.Discussion: Different patterns of VEGF expression was shown in the different leukemic celllines (Molt-4, Jurkat and U937) used in this study. These cells could be useful tools forscreening of VEGF modulators and so planning of new drugs for treatment of leukemia andother VEGF related disorders.