Abstract
Unlike normal melanocytes, primary and metastatic human melanomas express high levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR-1) messenger RNA, and expression of these genes is essential in sustaining the proliferation of malignant melanomas in vitro. To determine whether bFGF and FGFR-1 are also required for tumor formation in these cells, liposome-mediated gene transfer was used to deliver episomal vectors containing antisense-oriented bFGF or FGFR-1 cDNAs into human melanomas, grown as subcutaneous tumors in nude mice. The growth of tumors injected with these constructs was completely arrested or the tumors regressed as a result of blocked intratumoral angiogenesis and subsequent necrosis. Thus, inhibition of bFGF/FGFR-1-mediated signaling may open a new avenue for the treatment of advanced-stage melanomas.
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Wang, Y., Becker, D. Antisense targeting of basic fibroblast growth factor and dibroblast growth factor receptor-1 in human melanomas blocks intratumoral angiogenesis and tumor growth. Nat Med 3, 887–893 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0897-887
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0897-887