Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) is a novel anti-angiogenic and anti-tumorigenic mediator secreted by dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dB-cAMP)-differentiated glioblastoma cells.

cAMP has been shown to reverse the transformed phenotype of various cancer cells. Human glioblastoma U87MG cells exposed to 500 microM dB-cAMP for 6 days showed reduced proliferation, attenuated invasiveness, and inability to induce angiogenic responses in human brain endothelial cells (HBECs) grown in Matrigeltrade mark. VEGF was the principal mediator of angiogenic actions of U87MG conditioned media (CM), since VEGF neutralizing antibody completely inhibited U87MG-induced angiogenic responses and no detectable levels of IGF, bFGF, and PlGF were found in U87MG CM. VEGF release was induced ( approximately 20%) in dB-cAMP-treated U87MG cells, suggesting a simultaneous induction of anti-angiogenic mediators. Down-stream effectors of dB-cAMP actions in U87MG were investigated by microarray gene expression analysis. Detected increases in differentiation genes, staniocalcin-1 and Wnt-5a, and angiogenesis-related genes, PAI-1, SPARC, IGFBP-4, IGFBP-7, PAPP-A, and PRSS-11 in dB-cAMP-treated U87MG cells were validated by real-time PCR, Western blot, and/or ELISA. A subsequent series of experiments identified IGFBP-4 as the principal anti-angiogenic mediator secreted by glioblastoma cells in response to dB-cAMP. Human recombinant IGFBP-4 inhibited the angiogenic response of HBEC induced by U87MG CM, whereas anti-human IGFBP-4 antibody restored the pro-angiogenic activity of dB-cAMP-treated U87MG CM. Since neither U87MG nor HBEC cells secreted detectable levels of IGF-I, and there are no known cellular IGFBP-4 receptors, the anti-angiogenic effect of IGFBP-4 was likely IGF-I-independent and indirect. IGFBP-4 also antagonized angiogenic effects of VEGF(165), PlGF, and bFGF, and reduced U87MG colony formation in soft-agar. IGFBP-4 is a novel dB-cAMP-induced anti-angiogenic and anti-tumorigenic mediator that may be a promising candidate for glioblastoma therapy.