Regulation Of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptors Expression In SKOV3Cells By Basil Polysaccharide And Its Effect On SKOV3Cell Invasion

Background and Objective Ovarian cancer is one of the most common malignancies of female reproductive system and is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancer (more than from cervical cancer or endometrial cancer). The major causes of death from ovarian cancer are local invasion and distant metastasis. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are still the main therapeutic strategies for ovarian cancer; however, these strategies only have limited efficacy. Traditional Chinese medicine has shown unique advantages in cancer therapy; basil polysaccharide (BPS) is a polysaccharide extract from Ocimum basilicum (or sweet basil), which is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for detumescence and promoting cirtulation. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of basil polysaccharide (BPS) on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs) in SKOV3ovarian cancer cells and its involvement in regulating the invasion of SKOV3cells.Methods The effect of different concentrations of BPS on SKOV3cell invasion was investigated by Transwell assay. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion by SKOV3cells after BPS treatment was analyzed by ELISA and the regulation of VEGFRs in SKOV3cells by BPS was assessed by qRT-PCR and flow cytometry. Lentiviral shRNA expression vector was utilized to stably knockdown the expression of VEGFR2in SKOV3cells and the impact of BPS on VEGFR2-knockdown SKOV3cells was further analyzed by Transwell assay.Results Transwell assay showed BPS significantly inhibited the invasion of SKOV3cells in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. Secretion of VEGF from SKOV3cells was not altered by BPS treatment, and BPS showed no significant effect on VEGFR1and VEGFR3expression in SKOV3cells. However, VEGFR2expression in SKOV3cells was remarkably increased by BPS treatment both in mRNA level and surface protein level. SKOV3cells infected with specific VEGFR2shRNA expression lentiviral vector showed decreased expression of VEGFR2and the inhibitory effect of BPS on VEGFR2-knockdown SKOV3cells was lower than that on negative control cells.Conclusion BPS significantly inhibited the invasion of SKOV3cells in vitro and the decrease of invasion activity was partially mediated by up-regulation of VEGFR2in SKOV3cells.