Objective To review the expression of mechano-growth factor (MGF) and its roles in tissue repairs andregeneration. Methods The l iterature about the expression of MGF and its roles in tissue repairs and regeneration in recentyears was reviewed. Results MGF is sensitive to mechanical stimulation and can be expressed in various tissues/cells. MGF isresponsible for satell ite cell activation, myoblast proliferation, and plays important roles in the treatment of muscle coloboma,prevention of myocardial injury, and neuroprotection. Conclusion The important role of MGF in tissue repairs andregeneration has been identified, however, the detailed mechanisms remain unclear up to now and still need a further study.
In this study, we aimed to investigate the influences of conditioned medium from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) on cancer stem cell phenotype of human hepatoma cells. HUVEC and human hepatoma cells (MHCC97H) were cultured, respectively, and then the MHCC97H cells were co-cultured with conditioned medium from HUVEC (EC-CM) with Transwell system. Anti-cancer drug sensitivity, colony-formation, migration/invasion ability, expression of cancer stem cell marker and sphere formation were performed to determine the cancer stem cell phenotype in MHCC97H cells. We found that MHCC97H cells co-cultured with EC-CM exhibited significantly higher colony-formation ability and lower sensitivity of anti-cancer drugs 5-FU and Cis. Transwell assay showed that treatment with EC-CM obviously increased migration and invasion of MHCC97H cells. Moreover, increased sphere forming capability and expression of CD133 in MHCC97H cells were observed after co-cultured with EC-CM. These results suggested that EC-CM could promote cancer stem cell phenotype of hepatoma cells.