Endostatin expression by MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells effectively inhibits tumor growth

Tumors must induce the formation of new blood vessels in order to grow and metastasize. Endostatin, a cleaved product of collagen XVIII, inhibits endothelial cell proliferation and suppresses tumor growth and metastases. Several recent reports have questioned the efficacy of endostatin as a tumor suppressor in experimental animals. Our objective was to determine whether endostatin expression in breast cancer cells inhibits neovascularization and tumor growth in nude mice. MDA-MB-435 cells were transfected with an endostatin expression vector while control cells were transfected with an empty vector. Endostatin expression and secretion were confirmed by RT-PCR and a dot blot assay. No differences were observed in the growth rates of the endostatin-expressing and control clones in vitro. When injected into male and female nude mice, tumors from the control clones increased in size 10-15 fold over 8-10 weeks. In contrast, the endostatin clones formed small tumors which did not increase in size after the first 3 weeks. The endostatinderived tumors had a significantly higher apoptotic index (5.6%) compared to controls (2.0%) and showed a marked reduction in vascularization. In conclusion, expression of endostatin in MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells effectively suppressed breast tumor growth by inhibiting angiogenesis and increasing apoptosis.