@article {41,
	title = {Suppressive effects of vascular endothelial growth factor-B on tumor growth in a mouse model of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumorigenesis},
	journal = {PLoS ONE},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2010},
	month = {2010//},
	pages = {e14109},
	abstract = {BACKGROUND: The family of vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) contains key regulators of blood and lymph vessel development, including VEGF-A, -B, -C, -D, and placental growth factor. The role of VEGF-B during physiological or pathological angiogenesis has not yet been conclusively delineated. Herein, we investigate the function of VEGF-B by the generation of mouse models of cancer with transgenic expression of VEGF-B or homozygous deletion of Vegfb. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Ectopic expression of VEGF-B in the insulin-producing β-cells of the pancreas did not alter the abundance or architecture of the islets of Langerhans. The vasculature from transgenic mice exhibited a dilated morphology, but was of similar density as that of wildtype mice. Unexpectedly, we found that transgenic expression of VEGF-B in the RIP1-Tag2 mouse model of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumorigenesis retarded tumor growth. Conversely, RIP1-Tag2 mice deficient for Vegfb presented with larger tumors. No differences in vascular density, perfusion or immune cell infiltration upon altered Vegfb gene dosage were noted. However, VEGF-B acted to increase blood vessel diameter both in normal pancreatic islets and in RIP1-Tag2 tumors. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together, our results illustrate the differences in biological function between members of the VEGF family, and highlight the necessity of in-depth functional studies of VEGF-B to fully understand the effects of VEGFR-1 inhibitors currently used in the clinic.},
	url = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21124841},
	author = {Albrecht, Imke and Kopfstein, Lucie and Strittmatter, Karin and Schomber, Tibor and Falkevall, Annelie and Hagberg, Carolina E and Lorentz, Pascal and Jeltsch, Michael and Alitalo, Kari and Eriksson, Ulf and Christofori, Gerhard and Pietras, Kristian}
}
