Endostatin dramatically inhibits endothelial cell migration, vascular morphogenesis, and perivascular cell recruitment in vivo

Endostatin is a proteolytic fragment of collagen XVIII that inhibits endothelial cell migration in vitro and experimental tumor growth in vivo. To determine how endostatin affects the in vivo behavior of endothelial cells, we took advantage of a surrogate model of human angiogenesis, in which human endothelial cells are transferred to immunodeficient mice and develop into complex vessels in the course of 30 days. Systemic delivery of human yeast-derived endostatin (serum levels of 30-35 ng/mL) inhibited the number of human vessels dramatically (95% at day 20), as most endothelial cells remained suspended as single cells. The fraction of cells with a migratory phenotype (F-actin–positive, extending pseudopods) was strongly reduced (from 50% to 13% at day 10), while the number of apoptotic and mitotic cells remained unchanged. Endostatin also hampered the recruitment of α-smooth muscle actin–expressing perivascular cells and thus reduced the number of mature vessels (from 64.3% to 28.6% at day 30). Moreover, transcripts of pericyte-recruiting platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGFB) were strongly reduced in endothelial cells of endostatin-treated mice. Our results are strong evidence that endostatin inhibits angiogenesis at several levels in vivo, including perivascular cell recruitment.