[Inhibitory effect of low molecular weight heparin on the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor by tumor cells in vitro].

Objective: To investigate whether low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) may suppress the expression and secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from tumor cells in vitro and inhibit the VEGF-induced proliferation of human tumor vascular endothelial cells.

Methods: Human lung cancer cell line A549, human liver cancer cell line HepG2, human colon carcinoma cell lines HCT116 and HCT8 were used in this study. The expression levels of VEGF and TNF-alpha (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) in the tumor cells with or without pretreatment of LMWH/heparin were measured by standard sandwich ELISA technique.