Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) and induction of tumor angiogenesis

Abstract

9531 Background: Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are members of the transforming growth factor-beta family and act as multifunctional proteins that regulate cell proliferation and differentiation. They play an important role in the regulation of embryonic vasculogenesis but their role in postnatal angiogenesis remains to be clarified. Recently, we have shown that BMP-2 protein expression is reactivated in breast cancer. In this study we investigated a possible role of BMP-2 in the promotion of tumor angiogenesis. Methods: We studied the effect of BMP-2 on human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) and examined a possible angiogenic activity of BMP-2 with the mouse sponge assay. The effect of BMP-2 overexpression on tumor vascularization was also analysed in xenografts of human BMP-2 transfected MCF-7 breast cancer cells (MCF7/BMP2) in mice. Results: BMP receptor activation induced selectively the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) in contrast to the ERK1/2 MAP kin...