Differential expression of endoglin in human melanoma cells expressing the V3 isoform of versican by microarray analysis.

Versican is a large chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan produced by several tumor types, including malignant melanoma, which exists as four different splice variants. The large isoforms V0 and V1 promote melanoma cell proliferation. We previously described that overexpression of the short V3 isoform in MeWo human melanoma cells markedly reduced tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo, but favored the appearance of secondary tumors. This study aimed to elucidate the mechanisms of V3 by identifying differentially expressed genes between parental and V3-expressing MeWo melanoma cells using microarray analysis. V3 expression significantly reduced the expression of endoglin, a transforming growth factor-β superfamily co-receptor. Other differentially expressed genes were VEGF and PPP1R14B. Changes in endoglin levels were validated by qRT-PCR and Western blotting.