PMID: 11309342Apr 20, 2001Paper

Angiopoietin-1 is inversely related to thymidine phosphorylase expression in human breast cancer, indicating a role in vascular remodeling

Clinical Cancer Research : an Official Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
M J CurrieS B Fox

Abstract

Angiogenesis is essential for tumor growth and metastasis. It is a complex, dynamic process that is coordinated by several classes of angiogenic factors. One candidate family is the Tie2 tyrosine kinase, whose expression is restricted largely to endothelial cells. Tie2 has three known ligands, angiopoietin (Ang)-1, Ang-2, and Ang-4, that have different functional effects but play a requisite role in embryonic vessel remodeling. Because there are only limited data on the Tie2 pathway in human breast cancer, and our previous data have suggested that breast tumors establish a blood supply by vascular remodeling, we have investigated the expression of Ang-1, Ang-2, Ang-4, and Tie2 in a series of normal and neoplastic human breast tissues. We examined mRNA expression by reverse transcription-PCR in 6 normal and 52 malignant breast tissues and correlated expression with clinicopathological and angiogenic variables. We also examined the effect of physiological levels of estrogen on Ang expression. Ang-1, Ang-2, Ang-4, and Tie2 were detected in 19%, 52%, 35%, and 65%, respectively, of tumor samples. There was a significant reduction in expression of tumor Ang-1 (P = 0.04), Ang-2 (P = 0.01), Ang-4 (P = 0.004), and Tie2 (P = 0.02) compar...Continue Reading

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