Nitric oxide modulates capillary formation at the endothelial cell-tumor cell interface.

Nitric oxide synthase expression has been documented in lung tumors, but a potential role for nitric oxide (NO) in induction of capillary formation remains to be elucidated. The purpose of this report was to characterize the direct effects of NO at the level of the tumor-endothelium interface with respect to angiogenesis. A Transwell two-compartment culture system, human endothelial cells (EC), and two human non-small cell lung cancer (CA) lines that constitutively produce NO were used to simulate the EC-tumor cell interface. Both histological types of lung CA, squamous and adenocarcinoma, induced baseline capillary formation by EC within 3 days. This process was inhibited by NO in the microenvironment because decreasing NO production with 100 microM aminoguanidine (AG) significantly increased capillary formation, whereas coincubation with 100 microM AG plus 400 microM L-arginine returned angiogenesis to baseline values. We demonstrate further that NO may exert its inhibitory effects by influencing matrix metalloproteinase expression/activity and tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins in the sprouting tips of nascent capillaries.