Frontiers in Oncology (Aug 2021)

The Heparan Sulfate Binding Peptide in Tumor Progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

  • Carina Mucciolo Melo,
  • Carina Mucciolo Melo,
  • Huawei Wang,
  • Ken Fujimura,
  • Jan Strnadel,
  • Maria Cecília Zorél Meneghetti,
  • Helena Bonciani Nader,
  • Richard L. Klemke,
  • Maria Aparecida Silva Pinhal,
  • Maria Aparecida Silva Pinhal

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2021.697626
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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Angiogenesis is the formation of new vessels from pre-existing vasculature. The heparan sulfate chains from endothelial cell proteoglycans interact with the major angiogenic factors, regulating blood vessels´ formation. Since the FDA´s first approval, anti-angiogenic therapy has shown tumor progression inhibition and increased patient survival. Previous work in our group has selected an HS-binding peptide using a phage display system. Therefore, we investigated the effect of the selected peptide in angiogenesis and tumor progression. The HS-binding peptide showed a higher affinity for heparin N-sulfated. The HS-binding peptide was able to inhibit the proliferation of human endothelial umbilical cord cells (HUVEC) by modulation of FGF-2. It was verified a significant decrease in the tube formation of human endothelial cells and capillary formation of mice aorta treated with HS-binding peptide. HS-binding peptide also inhibited the formation of sub-intestinal blood vessels in zebrafish embryos. Additionally, in zebrafish embryos, the tumor size decreased after treatment with HS-binding peptide.

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