In Vitro Angiogenic Properties of Plasmid DNA Encoding SDF-1α and VEGF165 Genes

The stromal-derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play an important role in angiogenesis and exert a significant trophic function. SDF-1α is a chemoattractant for endothelial progenitor cells derived from bone marrow and promotes new blood vessel formation. VEGF regulates all types of vascular growth, stimulates angiogenesis, and is involved in the induction of lymphangiogenesis. The possibility of using these growth factors for regenerative medicine is currently under investigation. The angiogenic potential of a pBud-SDF-1α-VEGF165 bicistronic plasmid construct which simultaneously encodes VEGF165 and SDF-1α genes cDNA was evaluated in this study. The conditioned medium collected from HEK293T cells transfected with the pBud-SDF-1α-VEGF165 plasmid was shown to stimulate the formation of capillary-like structures by human umbilical vein-derived endothelial cells (HUVEC) on Matrigel and to increase the proliferative activity of these cells in vitro. Thus, the pBud-SDF-1α-VEGF165 plasmid exhibits angiogenic properties in cell cultures in vitro. As interest in the development of non-viral techniques for regenerative medicine increases, this plasmid which simultaneously expresses VEGF165 and SDF-1α may provide a platform for advanced methods of stimulating therapeutic angiogenesis.