Effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and chondroitin sulfate A on human monocytic THP-1 cell migration
Abstract
Angiogenesis serves as a crucial factor in disease development and progression, such as cancer metastasis, and monocyte migration is one of the key steps for angiogenesis.
Therapeutic modulation of angiogenesis is a promising new therapeutic avenue under investigation.
In this study, effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and chondroitin sulfate A on monocyte migration were investigated.
Human monocytic THP-1 cells were from Riken Cell Bank (Tsukuba, Japan) and vascular endothelial cells (VECs) were obtained from swine thoracic aorta. The migration experimental system was adapted from Falcontrade mark Cell Culture Inserts with pore sizes of 3 and 8 microm cultured endothelial cells or not on the insert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membranes.
Four VEGF concentrations (0, 10, 50 and 100 ng/ml) and three concentrations of chondroitin sulfate A (0, 1.25 and 5.0 mg/ml) were used to investigate their effects on THP-1 cell migration ability through PET membranes and VECs monolayer.
The THP-1 cell migration was evaluated by counting the number of migrated cells related to the total number of cells under a microscope. We counted the migration cells every 1 h on a Tatai-type hemocytometer using an inverted microscope for total 7 h. For inserts with pore sizes of 3 and 8 microm, the THP-1 cell migration increased with VEGF concentrations; however, cell migration decreased with the chondroitin sulfate A concentration.
Our results demonstrated that VEGF accelerated monocyte migration through endothelial monolayer and chondroitin sulfate A is an effective inhibitor of monocyte migration for angiogenesis.