Effects of Vascular Endothelial Cells on Invasion of Glioma Cells via Notch Signal Pathway

Objective To investigate the effects of vascular endothelial cells on the invasion properties of glioma cells and their relationships with Notch signal pathway. Methods We co-cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells(HUVEC) and U87 glioma cells by Transwell in vitro, inhibited the Notch signal pathway using DAPT, and then analyzed the invasiveness of U87 cells of each group in matrigel matrix, in vitro. Realtime PCR was conducted to detect the mRNA expressions of Notch1, Notch2, Hes1, Dll4, Cathepsins B, MMP-9, MMP-2. The protein expressions of Cathepsins B, MMP-9, MMP-2 were detected by Western blot. Results The U87 cells grew much thrived when co-cultured with HUVEC, but the growth was restrained when treated with DAPT. The co-cultured U87 showed more aggressive than single U87 cells and U87 cells dealt with DAPT. The mRNA expressions of Notch1, Notch2, Hes1, Dll4, Cathepsins B, MMP-9 and the protein expressions of Cathepsins B, MMP-9 of U87 cells co-cultured with HUVEC were increased obviously, but then they were decreased when treated with DAPT. Conclusion The invasion of U87 cells might be promoted by interactions of glioma cells and endothelial cells, which have a close relation with Notch signal pathway, and DAPT could weaken the promotion effects by inhibiting Notch signal pathway.