PMID: 8941211Nov 1, 1996Paper

Vascular endothelial growth factor production in normal epidermis and in benign and malignant epithelial skin tumors

Laboratory Investigation; a Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology
W WeningerE Tschachler

Abstract

Vascular endothellal growth factor (VEGF) increases vascular permeability and acts as a mitogen for endothelial cells in vivo and in vitro. We and others recently demonstrated that cultured human keratinocytes constitutively secrete VEGF. In the present study, we examined the expression of this growth factor in various epithelial skin tumors and in normal skin. Using in situ hybridization, we detected strong VEGF mRNA expression in all of 10 squamous cell carcinomas, 13 common warts, 11 seborrheic keratoses, and in 7 of 8 keratoacanthomas studied. By contrast, we found no VEGF mRNA in 9 of 14 basal cell carcinomas. VEGF mRNA was readily detectable within the epidermis adjacent to the tumors as well as in tumor cells and in the epidermis of normal human skin. Northern hybridization of RNA derived from normal human epidermis identified VEGF transcripts of 3.7 and 1.8 kb, and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction confirmed that epidermal cells, like keratinocytes in vitro, express the three major splice forms of VEGF. Immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibodies confirmed that expression of VEGF mRNA was accompanied by the presence of VEGF protein. Our data demonstrate that VEGF production by tumor cells in si...Continue Reading

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