Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiate to Endothelial Cells Using Recombinant Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor –A

Background: vascular endothelial growth factor-a (vegf-a), an endothelial cell-specific mitogen produced by various cell types, plays important roles in cell differentiation and proliferation. in this study we investigated the effect of recombinant vegf-a on differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) to endothelial cells (ecs). methods: vegf-a was expressed in e. coli bl21 (de3) and bl21 plyss competent cells with the pet32a expression vector. recombinant vegf-a protein expression was verified by sds-page and western blotting. mesenchymal stem cell differentiation to ecs in the presence of vegf-a was evaluated by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. results: recombinant vegf-a was produced in e. coli bl21 (de3) cells at 0.8 mg/ml concentration. expression of cd31 and cd 144 was significantly greater, while expression of cd90, cd73, and cd44 was significantly less, in mscs treated with our recombinant vegf-a than in those treated with the commercial protein (p < 0.05). conclusions: recombinant vegf-a expressed in a prokaryotic system can induce mscs differentiation to ecs and can be used in research and likely therapeutic applications.