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Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Chimeric Toxin Is Highly Active against Endothelial Cells

Centre for Biochemical Technology, Mall Road, Delhi, India [N. A.], and Department of Medicine and Pathology, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90033 [R. M., T. Z., J. C., D. L. S., P. S. G.]

Angiogenesis is a critical step in a benign tumor’s evolution toward malignancy and metastasis. Tumor cells acquire such a phenotype by their ability to secrete angiogenic factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) flt-1/VEGFR-1 and Flk-1/KDR/VEGFR-2 are restricted to activated endothelial cells, with the highest expression being in the tumor vasculature. The present study was undertaken to target the VEGFRs. Targeted toxins were developed by recombinant methods by fusing VEGF₁₆₅ or VEGF₁₂₁ to the diphtheria toxin (DT) translocation and enzymatic domain (DT₃₉₀-VEGF₁₆₅ or DT₃₉₀-VEGF₁₂₁). Both fusion proteins were found to be highly toxic to proliferating endothelial cells but not to vascular smooth muscle cells. The fusion protein is also active in Kaposi’s sarcoma, a tumor type that expresses high levels of VEGFRs. These fusion proteins completely inhibit the basic fibroblast growth factor-induced growth of new blood vessels in the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay. Furthermore, the fusion toxin substantially retards the growth of Kaposi’s sarcoma tumors in mice. Because nearly all tumors induce local angiogenesis with high VEGFR expression, VEGF-derived toxins may have wide application in cancer therapy.

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