Hypoxia-induced up-regulation of angiopoietin-2 in colorectal cancer

Angiogenesis is a compensatory mechanism that enables malignant tumors to survive in an oxygen-deficient environment. To test our hypothesis that hypoxia stimulates the production of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) in colorectal cancer (CRC), we investigated the expression of Ang-2 in three cultured CRC cell lines, and in specimens from 11 CRC metastatic liver tumors. Hypoxia-induced Ang-2 mRNA expression was clearly evident in HCT116 cells that did not express Ang-2 under normoxic conditions. Ang-2 mRNA was detected only after 48 h in hypoxic serum-deprived cultures in a LoVo cell line, and under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions without any noticeable difference in the HT29 cells. There was a stepwise increase in Ang-2 expression from the periphery to the central part of the liver metastatic foci, whereas an inverse result was noted in tumor blood vessels, with a gradual decrease in CD31-positive ECs from the edge to the central region of the metastatic lesion. An expression pattern similar to Ang-2 was found in glucose transporter 1 (Glut-1), a known hypoxia-induced factor. These findings suggest that hypoxia plays an important role in inducing the expression of Ang-2 in CRC.