VEGF-induced intracellular Ca²⁺ oscillations are down-regulated and do not stimulate angiogenesis in breast cancer-derived endothelial colony forming cells.

ABSTRACT: Endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs) represent a population of truly endothelial precursors that promote the angiogenic switch in solid tumors, such as breast cancer (BC). The intracellular Ca²⁺ toolkit, which drives the pro-angiogenic response to VEGF, is remodelled in tumor-associated ECFCs such that they are seemingly insensitive to this growth factor. This feature could underlie the relative failure of anti-VEGF therapies in cancer patients. Herein, we investigated whether and how VEGF uses Ca²⁺ signalling to control angiogenesis in BC-derived ECFCs (BC-ECFCs). Although VEGFR-2 was normally expressed, VEGF failed to induce proliferation and in vitro tubulogenesis in BC-ECFCs. Likewise, VEGF did not trigger robust Ca²⁺ oscillations in these ce

SUBMITTER: Lodola F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5707017 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature