MELANOMA CELL-LINES EXPRESS VEGF RECEPTOR KDR AND RESPOND TO EXOGENOUSLY ADDED VEGF

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