Fibroblast growth factor overexpressing breast carcinoma cells as models of angiogenesis and metastasis

Summary Progression of breast cancer from an estrogen-dependent, slowly growing tumor amenable to tamoxifen treatment to an aggressive, metastatic, estrogen-independent phenotype has been mimicked by the transfection of MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells with fibroblast growth factors 1 or 4. FGF-transfected cells are aggressively tumorigenic in ovariectomized or tamoxifen-treated nude mice, conditions under which the parental cells would not produce tumors. When detection of metastasis was enhanced bylacZ transfection, the FGF-transfected MCF-7 cells were reliably metastatic to lymph nodes and frequently metastatic to lungs, in further contrast to parental cells. An antiangiogenic drug, AGM-1470, given to mice bearing tumors produced by FGF-transfected MCF-7 cells, produced a decrease in tumor size. The decreased tumor size was not as marked as that produced by treatment with pentosan polysulfate, an agent which would abrogate all autocrine or paracrine effects of the transfected FGF. Thus, increased angiogenesis may be a component of the phenotypic change produced by the FGF transfection, but other autocrine or paracrine effects may also be important.