ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2000 December;44(4):177-85

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Characterization of endothelial cells isolated by human meningiomas

Giordano F. ¹, Mitola S. ²

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, University of Turin; ² Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) and Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Background. Meningiomas are com­mon neo­plasms of cen­tral ner­vous ­system char­ac­ter­ized by a prom­i­nent angio­gen­e­sis in ­some his­to­log­i­cal sub­types and in ­some ­phase of ­their pro­gres­sion. Angiogenesis is a ­required ­event for the pro­gres­sion of sol­id ­tumor. However ­there are increas­ing evi­denc­es ­that the bio­log­i­cal fea­tures of endo­the­lial ­cells in the ­tumor oth­er ­than the micro­ves­sel num­ber dic­tate the behav­ior of can­cer dis­ease. In the ­present ­study we ­have test­ed the hypoth­e­sis ­that in ­vitro endo­the­lial ­cells orig­i­nat­ed by ­human menin­gio­mas ­have a dif­fer­ent phe­no­type ­from ­that of nor­mal cap­il­lary endo­the­lial.
Methods. To iso­late endo­the­lial ­cells we ­have ­used a new tech­ni­cal ­approach prin­ci­pal­ly ­based on col­lag­e­nase diges­tion of the tis­sues fol­lowed by cap­ture of endo­the­lial ­cells ­obtained ­through mole­cules rec­og­niz­ing spe­cif­ic endo­the­lial mark­ers con­ju­gat­ed to mag­net­ic ­beads.
Results. By ­using ­beads con­ju­gat­ed ­with a mono­clo­nal anti­body ­anti CD-36 we ­have sep­ar­at­ed ­with ­high effi­cien­cy and pur­ity menin­gio­ma endo­the­lial ­cells and estab­lished ­three ­cell cul­tures. These ­cells uptake acet­y­lat­ed LDL and ­express CD-31, CD-36, ­nitric ­oxide syn­thase ­type III, von Willebrand fac­tor, ­which are spe­cif­ic mark­ers of endo­the­lial ­cells. Their mit­o­gen­ic and mot­o­gen­ic poten­tial in rest­ing con­di­tions or ­after stim­u­la­tion ­with vas­cu­lar endo­the­lial ­growth fac­tor-A is super­im­pos­able to ­that of nor­mal cap­il­lary endo­the­lial ­cells. However menin­gio­ma endo­the­lial ­cells pro­duce high­er ­amount of inter­leu­kin-6 and of mono­cyte chem­o­tac­tic pep­tide-1 ­than con­trol ­cells.
Conclusions. The estab­lish­ment of a new and suit­able tech­nique to iso­late endo­the­lial ­cells ­from ­human can­cers can be use­ful to ­learn ­more on angio­gen­ic mech­a­nisms in ­tumor pro­gres­sion. Furthermore, the ­data ­shown under­line the pos­sible path­o­gen­ic ­role in menin­gio­ma pro­gres­sion of infil­trat­ing mac­ro­phag­es trig­gered by mono­cyte chem­o­tac­tic pep­tide-1 ­released by ­tumor endo­the­lial ­cells.