Abstract
BACKGROUND: Several studies have shown that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is one of the most important cytokines participating in the process of embryo implantation and pregnancy, while, the role of this factor on vascular endothelial factor-A (VEGF-A), as one of the most important angiogenic factor, has not been fully investigated yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of LIF on gene expression of VEGF in the choriocarcinoma cells (JEG-3). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, JEG-3 choriocarcinoma cells were treated with different concentrations of LIF (1, 10, and 50 ng) for 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours. Expression of VEGF was analyzed by real-time PCR. Delta CTs were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a post hoc Tukey's test by SPSS version 25.0 software for data analyzing. RESULTS: In the stimulated cells, different concentrations of LIF caused significant decrease of VEGF gene expression (P<0.05) at 12, 24 and 48 hours. In contrast, it was increased after 72 hours (P<0.001). Analysis of data after 6 hours also showed that level of VEGF gene expression was significantly decreased by increasing LIF concentration (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Expression level of VEGF gene was decreased in trophoblast cells (except after 72 hours) under the effect of different concentrations of LIF in a time-dependent manner. So, this study showed that further studies are needed to determine the effect of LIF on other angiogenic factors in trophoblast cells.