Vascular progenitors derived from murine bone marrow stromal cells are regulated by fibroblast growth factor and are avidly recruited by vascularizing tumors.

Bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BMSC) possess a population of vascular progenitor cells that enable them to acquire a histology and immunophenotype coherent with endothelial cells (EC). Recent evidence indicates that a hypoxic environment such as that encountered in tumor masses regulates BMSC angiogenic properties by pathways that remain to be defined. It is also unclear as to what extent these marrow-derived precursor cells could contribute to the growth of endothelium-lined vessels at the vicinity of tumor masses.

Hypoxia promotes murine bone-marrow-derived stromal cell migration and tube formation.

Recent evidence indicates that bone-marrow-derived stromal cells (MSCs) have a histology coherent with endothelial cells that may enable them to contribute to tumor angiogenesis through yet undefined mechanisms. In this work, we investigated the angiogenic properties of murine MSCs involved in extracellular matrix degradation and in neovascularization that could take place in a hypoxic environment such as that encountered in tumor masses. MSCs were cultured in normoxia (95% air and 5% CO(2)) or in hypoxia (1% oxygen, 5% CO(2), and 94% nitrogen).