EFFECT OF TISSUE FACTOR DEFICIENCY ON MOUSE AND TUMOR-DEVELOPMENT

Previous reports suggest that tissue factor (TF) may play an essential role in embryonic vascular development and tumor angiogenesis. To fur ther examine this relationship, the morphology of fully developed TF-d eficient embryos and the growth of TF-deficient teratomas and teratoca rcinomas were analyzed. In a 129/Sv genetic background, TF null embryo s do not survive beyond mid-gestation, In contrast, 14% of 129/Sv x C5 7BL/6 TF-deficient embryos escape this early mortality and survive to birth, On gross and microscopic inspection, these late gestation, TP-d eficient embryos appear normal., The growth and vascularity of TF(+/+) , TF(+/-), and TP(-/-) teratomas and teratocarcinomas are indistinguis hable, Thus, tumor-derived TF is not required for tumor growth and ang iogenesis and the combined data do not support an essential role for T F in embryonic vascular development.