VEGF-related protein isolated from<i>Vipera palestinae</i>venom, promotes angiogenesis

Abstract

Therapeutic angiogenesis is one of the major approaches in designing new therapies for cardiovascular diseases. vpVEGF was purified from Vipera palestinae venom using two steps of reverse-phase HPLC. Structurally, vpVEGF belongs to the VEGF-F1 family of snake venom proteins, and potently stimulated dHMVEC proliferation in a VEGFR-2 dependent manner. This growth factor appeared to be a chemoattractant for migration of these cells and stimulated their radial migration in a collagen gel. The stimulatory effect on dHMVEC was correlated with activation of the MAPK Erk1/2 signaling pathway. In vivo vpVEGF induced angiogenesis in a Japanese quail assay and in a Matrigel plug assay in mice. Although in the quail assay vpVEGF showed lower activity than hrVEGF-A165 in mammalian-related systems there were no significant differences. The experiments with dHMVEC, as well as angiogenesis in vivo suggest that the pro-angiogenic effect of vpVEGF is related to its interaction with VEGFR-2 (flk-1).