Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in human adrenals

Angiogenesis is an important component in many biological processes and als o in pathologic conditions including neoplastic diseases. Vascular endothel ial growth factor (VEGF) is a secreted endothelial cell-specific growth fac tor, which is induced by tissue hypoxia and is angiogenic in vivo. Adrenal gland is a well-vascularized organ, and the roles of VEGF in normal adrenal and in adrenal tumorigenesis is not well characterized. We therefore inves tigated VEGF mRNA expression in normal human adrenals and in cultured adren ocortical cells. VEGF mRNA was constantly expressed in normal adrenals as well as in culture d adrenocortical cells. The mRNA levels were increased after 24h stimulatio n with either ACTH or cAMP. The effect of cAMP was dose-dependent. This sug gests that ACTH-induced VEGF mRNA expression is mediated via protein kinase A dependent pathway.