Functional Effect of a Novel SNP of Human VEGF Promoter and Angiogenesis

Abstract

Angiogenesis is crucial for gastroduodenal ulcer healing or carcinogenesis. We characterized the human VEGF promoter region with a novel SNP which was identified from Korean patients suffering from gastric ulcer. VEGF promoter region was cloned from human genomic DNA and its SNP was generated by site-directed mutagenesis. The VEGF promoter with SNP was demonstrated to have low activity in comparison with the wild type in Stomach cancer cell . To confirm the effect of SNP, in vitro angiogenesis study was done with HMEC-1 cell transfected with wild type- or SNP-VEGF promoter driven VEGF expression DNA. Angiogeneic activity was more prominent in HMEC-1 cell expressing wild type-VEGF promoter driven VEGF. To map the region responsible for the low activity of SNP-VEGF promoter, several deletion constructs of the promoter were generated and analyzed. In conclusion, the novel SNP of VEGF promoter might be the the clue for the transcriptional regulation of VEGF.