Cultured tumor cells produce chemotactic factors specific for endothelial cells: a possible mechanism for tumor-induced angiogenesis.

The production of stimulants of endothelial cell motility by cultured tumor cells was studied. Spontaneously transformed murine fibroblasts in culture produced activity that stimulated migration of endothelial cells, while this kind of activity was not detected in media from cultures of the normal counterparts of the transformed cells. Furthermore, a line of murine tumor cells (HB4), known to induce vasoformative sarcomas in vivo, was found to produce in culture a strong chemoattractant specific for endothelial cells. Since the tumor-derived material also caused vessel ingrowth when implanted in the rabbit eye, these results suggest that the angiogenesis observed during tumor growth may involve chemoattractants for endothelial cells produced by tumor cells.