Angiostatin and endostatin inhibit endothelial cell migration in response to FGF and VEGF without interfering with specific intracellular signal transduction pathways.

The anti-angiogenic agents angiostatin and endostatin have been shown to affect endothelial cell migration in a number of studies. We have examined the effect of these agents on intracellular signalling pathways known to regulate endothelial cell migration and proliferation/survival. Both agents inhibited fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-mediated migration of primary human microvascular endothelial cells and affected vascular formation in the embryoid body model. However, using phosphospecific antibodies we could not detect any effect of angiostatin or endostatin on phospholipase C-gamma (PLC-gamma), Akt/PKB, p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), p38 MAPK and p21-activated kinase (PAK) activity. Furthermore, using a glutathione S-transferase (GST)-PAK pull-down assay, we could not detect any effect on Rac activity. We conclude that angiostatin and endostatin inhibit chemotaxis, without affecting intracellular signalling pathways known to regulate endothelial migration and proliferation/survival.