Background & objective: Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) are the important factors in tumor metastasis. To the author's knowledge, their relationship has not been addressed to date. This study was designed to investigate the in vitro invasion and the expression level of VEGF and MMP-2 in ovarian tumor cells, and to evaluate the correlation of expression of VEGF and MMP-2 in the ovarian tumor metastasis.
Method: Boyden chamber in vitro invasion assay was used to detect the invasive capacity in vitro in two ovarian tumor cell lines CaOV-3 and COC1. The expression levels of VEGF and MMP-2 in CaOV-3 and COC1 were evaluated by semiquantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. The activity of MMP-2 in two cell lines was detected by substrate zymography.
Results: Boyden chamber in vitro invasion assay indicated that the mean invasion percentage of CaOV-3 cells (21.9 +/- 1.5) was significantly higher than that of COC1 cells (8.8 +/- 0.9) (P < 0.05). Contrast to COC1 cells, CaOV-3 cells expressed significantly higher levels of mRNA of VEGF and MMP-2 as well as protein by RT-PCR and Western blot. Substrate zymography showed that the MMP-2 activity of CaOV3 cells was two times than that of COC1 cells.
Conclusion: The in vitro invasive ability of ovarian tumor cells appeared to be positive correlated to high expression of VEGF and MMP-2. There may be relationship between VEGF and MMP-2 in the process of metastasis of ovarian carcinoma.