Michael Klagsbrun, PhD
Movie: Tumor Cells Repelling Endothelial Cells
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A tumor cell is shown here surrounded by endothelial cells. The tumor cell has been engineered to create the protein semaphorin-3F, while the endothelial cells have been engineered to express neuropilin-2, a protein that becomes integrated within the cell membrane and works as a receptor for semaphorin-3F.
Playing the movie shows the tumor cell repelling the endothelial cells in vitro (within a culture). Since endothelial cells line blood vessels, this suggests that semaphorin-3F might be an angiogenesis inhibitor. In vivo (within living tissue), semaphorin-3F is an angiogenesis inhibitor that repels blood vessels, preventing them from invading a tumor and thereby starving the tumor of the oxygen and nutrients it needs for growth. (Movie credit: Diane Bielenberg, Klagsbrun Laboratory)
