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The Kringle 1 Domain of Hepatocyte Growth Factor Has Antiangiogenic and Antitumor Cell Effects on Hepatocellular Carcinoma

¹ Institute of Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry and ² Center for Cancer Research and Department of Surgery, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China; ³ Institute of Cell Biology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; ⁴ Zhejiang Provincial Taizhou Hospital, Zhejiang, China; ⁵ Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China; and ⁶ Stanley Ho Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China

Requests for reprints: Dr. Marie C.M. Lin, Institute of Molecular Biology, Department of Chemistry, 8/F Kadoorie Biological Science Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. Phone: 852-22990776; Fax: 852-28171006; E-mail: mcllin{at}hkusua.hku.hk.

The kringle 1 domain of human hepatocyte growth factor (HGFK1) was previously shown to inhibit bovine aortic endothelial cell proliferation, suggesting that it might be an antiangiogenic molecule. Here, we evaluated the in vivo efficacy of a recombinant adenoassociated virus carrying HGFK1 (rAAV-HGFK1) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a rat orthotopic HCC model and explored its molecular mechanisms in vitro in both endothelial and tumor cells. We first showed that rAAV-HGFK1 treatment significantly prolonged the survival time of rats transplanted with tumor cells. Treatment with rAAV-HGFK1 inhibited tumor growth, decreased tumor microvessel density, and completely prevented intrahepatic, lung, and peritoneal metastasis in this in vivo model. In vitro, rAAV-HGFK1 exhibited both antiangiogenic and antitumor cell effects, inhibiting the proliferation of both murine microvascular endothelial cells (MEC) and tumor cells, and inducing apoptosis and G₀-G₁ phase arrest in these cells. To our surprise, rAAV-HGFK1 did not act through the hepatocyte growth factor/hepatocyte growth factor receptor pathway. Instead, it worked mainly through epidermal growth factor (EGF)/epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling, with more minor contributions from vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor and β fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)/β fibroblast growth factor receptor (bFGFR) signaling. In both MECs and tumor cells, rAAV-HGFK1 acted through two pathways downstream of EGFR, namely inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation and stimulation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase/c-Jun-NH₂-kinase activation. These results suggest for the first time that HGFK1 exerts both antiangiogenic and antitumor cell activities mainly through EGF/EGFR signaling, and may thus be considered as a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HCC. [Cancer Res 2008;68(2):404–14]

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