Abstract
Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional iron-binding glycoprotein, which plays a variety of biological processes including immunity. In this study, we demonstrate that human LF upregulates KDR/Flk-1 mRNA and protein levels in HUVECs at an optimal concentration of 5 μg/ml, which subsequently promotes the VEGF-induced proliferation and migration of the endothelial cells. Exposure of HUVECs to LF significantly increased VEGF-induced ERK MAP kinase phosphorylation. The maximal stimulation of KDR/Flk-1 expression by LF was correlated with LF-induced increase in cell proliferation and migration. These findings suggest that LF may stimulate in vivo angiogenesis via upregulation of KDR/Flk-1 expression in endothelial cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 4332-4336 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | FEBS Letters |
Volume | 580 |
Issue number | 18 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2006 Aug 7 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by Grant No. R01-2004-000-10481-0 from the Basic Research Program of the Korea Science & Engineering Foundation.
Keywords
- KDR/Flk-1
- Lactoferrin
- Migration
- Proliferation
- VEGF
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biophysics
- Structural Biology
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Cell Biology