Cooperative stimulation of vascular endothelial growth factor expression by hypoxia and reactive oxygen species: the effect of targeting vascular endothelial growth factor and oxidative stress in an orthotopic xenograft model of bladder carcinoma

Elevated thymidine phosphorylase has been shown to correlate with increased angiogenesis and poor prognosis in many cancers including transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. In vitro studies have demonstrated that thymidine phosphorylase activity causes cellular oxidative stress and increases secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor. In this study, we show that thymidine phosphorylase activity also augments levels of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1α during in vitro hypoxia, and that thymidine phosphorylase activity and hypoxia act in concert to increase vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion. We also demonstrate that thymidine phosphorylase overexpression confers tumorigenicity on an orthotopically implanted transitional cell carcinoma cell line. Administration of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine together with a blocking anti-VEGF antibody abrogates the increase in tumorigenicity. Our results support the increased efficacy of combination approaches to antiangiogenic therapy.