Angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist suppress angiogenesis and growth of gastric cancer xenografts

Abstract

Angiotensin II (Ang II) has been reported to promote tumor progression, tumor growth and angiogenesis in many cancers. We previously observed that angiotensin II type 1 receptors (AT1R) were upregulated in human gastric cancer and may be involved in the progression of gastric cancer. We studied the effects of AT1R antagonist on angiogenesis and growth in gastric cancer xenografts to observe the mechanism action of AT1R in the gastric cancer. The results showed that the growth of gastric cancer cells was significantly suppressed by treatment with AT1R antagonist. In vivo, TCV-116, at doses of both 2 and 5 mg/kg/day, significantly suppressed tumor growth in mice (47.3 and 70.2%). Microvessel density was significantly decreased by TCV-116 (3.4 +/- 0.9 and 2.8 +/- 0.5 per field) compared with the control group (12.9 +/- 1.1 per field), and VEGF expression was significantly suppressed by AT1R antagonist. These results demonstrate that AT1R plays an important role in the progression of gastric cancer. Suppression tumor angiogenesis could be one of the mechanisms by which AT1R antagonist suppresses the growth of gastric cancer. These findings also provide a theoretical basis for the future clinical application of AT1R antagonist against gastric cancer.