Vasculogenesis plays a role in the growth of Ewing’s sarcoma in vivo

BOLONTRADE, MARCELA F.; ZHOU, RONG R.; KLEINERMAN, EUGENIE S.

CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH

American Association for Cancer Research.

Lugar: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ; Año: 2002 vol. 8 p. 3622 - 3677

1078-0432

Vasculogenesis – the process by which endothelial cell precursors are recruited and organized to form a vasculature – has traditionally been thought to play a role only in embryonic development.  However, several studies have now been published suggesting that vasculogenesis may have a role in the formation of new vascular networks in adults. Recent studies suggest the existence of circulating endothelial precursor cells that arise from outside the place of vascularization. Using a mouse bone marrow transplantation model that takes advantage of major histocompatibility complex haplotype differences between donor and recipient mice, we examined the contribution of donor bone marrow-derived cells to neovascularization in recipient nude mice with developing Ewing’s sarcoma tumors. We found that the donor bone marrow cells gave rise to endothelial cells in vitro and colocalized with neovessels in Ewing’s sarcomas in vivo. We also found that donor bone marrow-derived cells were involved in the formation of the tumor vasculature. Our findings indicate that not only angiogenesis but also vasculogenesis was involved in the development of Ewing’s sarcoma in our mouse model.