Low molecular weight fucoidan increases VEGF165-induced endothelial cell migration by enhancing VEGF165 binding to VEGFR-2 and NRP1.

Therapeutic induction of angiogenesis is a potential treatment for chronic ischemia. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans are known to play an important role by their interactions with proangiogenic growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Low molecular weight fucoidan (LMWF), a sulfated polysaccharide from brown seaweeds that mimic some biological activities of heparin, has been shown recently to promote revascularization in rat critical hindlimb ischemia. In this report, we first used cultured human endothelial cells (ECs) to investigate the possible ability of LMWF to enhance the actions of VEGF(165). Data showed that LMWF greatly enhances EC tube formation in growth factor reduced matrigel. LMWF is a strong enhancer of VEGF(165)-induced EC chemotaxis, but not proliferation. In addition, LMWF has no effect on VEGF(121)-induced EC migration, a VEGF isoform that does not bind to heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Then, with binding studies using (125)I-VEGF(165), we observed that LMWF enhances the binding of VEGF(165) to recombinant VEGFR-2 and Neuropilin-1 (NRP1), but not to VEGFR-1. Surface plasmon resonance analysis showed that LMWF binds with high affinity to VEGF(165) (1.2 nm) and its receptors (5-20 nm), but not to VEGF(121). Pre-injection of LMWF on immobilized receptors shows that VEGF(165) has the highest affinity for VEGFR-2 and NRP1, as compared with VEGFR-1. Overall, the effects of LMWF were much more pronounced than those of LMW heparin. These findings suggested an efficient mechanism of action of LMWF by promoting VEGF(165) binding to VEGFR-2 and NRP1 on ECs that could help in stimulating therapeutic revascularization.