Molecules 2012, 17(4), 3981-3988; doi:10.3390/molecules17043981
Diverse Effects of β-Carotene on Secretion and Expression of VEGF in Human Hepatocarcinoma and Prostate Tumor Cells
Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan
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Received: 19 March 2012 / Revised: 30 March 2012 / Accepted: 31 March 2012 / Published: 2 April 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carotenoids)
Abstract
Oral administration of β-carotene (BC) was found to exert opposite effects on plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in two animal models. One study in nude mice injected via tail vein with hepatocarcinoma SK-Hep-1 cells showed that BC decreases the plasma VEGF level, whereas the other study in nude mice injected subcutaneously with prostate tumor PC-3 cells showed that BC increases the plasma VEGF level. Herein we investigated whether BC (0.5–20 μM) possesses diverse effects on VEGF secretion in SK-Hep-1, PC-3 and melanoma B16F10 cells. We found that incubation of SK-Hep-1 cells with BC (1–20 μM) for 6 h significantly decreased VEGF secretion, whereas BC (1–10 μM) significantly increased the VEGF secretion in PC-3 cells. However, these effects disappeared at 12 h of incubation. Similar effects occurred in VEGF mRNA and protein expression after treatment of SK-Hep-1 and PC-3 cells with BC for 6 h. In contrast, BC (0.5–20 μM) did not affect mRNA and protein expression and secretion of VEGF in B16F10 cells. We also found that the proliferation of SK-Hep-1 and B16F10 cells was significantly inhibited by 20 μM BC at 6 and 12 h of incubation, whereas the proliferation of PC-3 cells was significantly inhibited by 20 μM BC at 12 h of incubation. In summary, the present study demonstrated the tumor-specific effect of BC on VEGF secretion in different cancer cell lines. View Full-TextKeywords:
B16F10; β-carotene; PC-3; SK-Hep-1; VEGF
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Chen, H.-Y.; Huang, S.-M.; Yang, C.-M.; Hu, M.-L. Diverse Effects of β-Carotene on Secretion and Expression of VEGF in Human Hepatocarcinoma and Prostate Tumor Cells. Molecules 2012, 17, 3981-3988.
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