ABSTRACT
Purpose: To assess the anti-neovascularization effect of a novel peptide NT/K-CFY derived from the kringle domain of neurotrypsin.
Materials and Methods: Cell migration, lumen formation and cell proliferation assays were performed to determine the anti-neovascularization effect of NT/K-CFY in primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) models were established to assess the anti-angiogenic role of NT/K-CFY in vivo. The retinal expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) was examined by western blot and real-time PCR in OIR model.
Results: The in vitro results showed that NT/K-CFY effectively and safely decreased VEGF-induced cell migration, cell proliferation and tube formation in HUVECs. In addition, NT/K-CFY showed certain efficacy in angiogenesis inhibition in chicken embryos and oxygen-treated mouse pups. Moreover, the CFY peptide also improved retinal blood perfusion and reversed the abnormal expression of VEGF and PEDF in OIR mouse model.
Conclusion: NT/K-CFY peptide strongly inhibits neovascularization in vitro and vivo. This novel peptide may become a promising therapeutic agent for ocular angiogenesis-related diseases.
Acknowledgments
We thank all the members of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Ocular Fundus Diseases for their technical assistance throughout the research.
Disclosure statement
No competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work exist in this paper.