Inhibiting effect of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antisense oligodeoxynucleotides on VEGF expression in U937 cells

Objective:To study the effect of VEGF antisense oligodeoxynucleotide(VEGF ASODN)on VEGF expression in acute monocyte leukemic cell line U937 in vitro.Methods:U937 cells were incubated with VEGF ASODN(final concentra-tion as follows:10,20 and 30 μmol/L respectively)or scrambled sequence,compared with negative control.The expression of VEGF mRNA was measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR,VEGF protein was measured by Western blot.Results:VEGF ASODN obviously inhibited expression of VEGF mRNA in U937 cell,compared with scrambled sequence and negative control(P<0.05).And the inhibition effect was most remarkable after 24 h,which is related with the dose of VEGF ASODN(P<0.05).Scrambled sequence groups had no significant difference compared with negative control groups(P>0.05).VEGF ASODN obvi-ously inhibited expression of VEGF protein,compared with scrambled sequence and negative control(P<0.05).Conclusion:The expressions of VEGF at mRNA and protein levels in leukemic cell line U937 are down-regulated after being treated with VEGF ASODN.