Ribozyme mediated cleavage of cell-associated isoform of vascular endothelial growth factor inhibits liver metastasis of a pancreatic cancer cell line.

Stromal angiogenesis is an important factor for progression of malignant neoplasms. We used hammerhead ribozymes against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene transcripts to down-regulate cell-associated VEGF189 isoform function in the pancreatic cancer cell line MIA PaCa2. MIA PaCa2 transfected with anti-VEGF189 ribozyme did not show any alteration of growth rate under tissue culture. When the transformants were subcutaneously transplanted, tumour volume of the ribozyme-transfected MIA PaCa2 xenografts was significantly smaller (P<0.01). No metastasis of MIA PaCa2 transfected with anti-VEGF189 was apparent, while disabled ribozyme-transfected MIA PaCa2 showed significant liver metastasis (P<0.05). These results suggested that VEGF189 plays an important role in growth and metastatic potential through alteration of angiogenic balance in cancer.