Positions of the cloned promoters relative to the transcription start site, positions and sequences of the putative PPREs, and positions of the oligonucleotides used for CHIP analyses are indicated. (Pdgfb), and the tyrosinkinase KIT (c-Kit) as new PPAR/ -dependent molecules. We show here that Isobavachalcone PPAR/ activation, regardless of its action on different cancer cell types, leads to a higher tumor vascularization which favors tumor growth and metastasis formation. PPAR/-flox+/? [12] and Tie2-CreERT2 [13] animals were crossed to generate Tie2-CreERT2;PPAR/-flox+/? mice, further referred to as Tie2-CreERT2;PPAR/. The Tie2-CreERT2-line was back-crossed four times onto C57BL/6J. Age- and sex-matched Tie2-CreERT2;PPAR/ animals were injected for one week intraperitoneally either with sunflower oil (vehicle) or Tamoxifen dissolved in sunflower oil in a dose of 33 ?mg/kg per day [10,14,15]. Tie2-CreERT2 animals injected with Tamoxifen served as additional controls. One week after the last Tamoxifen or vehicle treatment, 1 106 LLC1 tumor cells were injected subcutaneously. Tumors and organs were collected after Isobavachalcone three weeks. For treatment with Isobavachalcone the PPAR/ agonist, ten-week-old male C57BL/6J (Janvier, France) mice were subcutaneously injected with 1 106 LLC1 tumor cells. GW0742 (Selleckchem, Houston, TX, USA) dissolved in DMSO was then subcutaneously injected at 1 mg/kg once every second day (100 L). Controls received 100 L DMSO injections [8]. 2.2. Cell Culture Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were purchased from PromoCell (Heidelberg, Germany) and grown in endothelial cell growth medium (PromoCell) supplemented with gentamycin (50 g mL?1) and amphotericin B (50 ng mL?1). For all experiments, we used HUVECs pooled from up to four donors, which did not exceed passage 4. Human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells (ATCC CRL-1573) were grown in DMEM medium (Invitrogen, Cergy Pontoise, France) supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), 100 IU mL?1 penicillin, and 100 g mL?1 streptomycin (Invitrogen, Cergy Pontoise, France). C166 mouse endothelial cells (accession number CRL-2581) and LLC1 mouse lung cancer cells (accession number CRL-1642) were grown in DMEM medium (Invitrogen, Cergy Pontoise, France). Media were supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), 100 IU mL?1 penicillin and 100 g mL?1 streptomycin. As positive control for apoptosis assays, LLC1 mouse lung cancer cells were treated with 100 nmol/L Staurosporine (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) overnight. For RNA isolation and quantitative RT-PCR experiments, HUVEC and LLC1 cells were maintained for 48 h (HUVEC) or 24 h (LLC1) in medium in the presence of GW0742 (Selleckchem, Houston, TX, USA) or GSK3787 (Selleckchem) dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at concentrations of 1 1 mol/L. Controls were treated with vehicle (0.1% DMSO) only [6,16]. 2.3. Detection of Cell Proliferation After Bmp2 incubation for Isobavachalcone 24 h (LLC1 cells) or 48 h (HUVECs) with DMSO, GW0742, or GSK3787, bromodeoxyuridine was added and the cells incubated for 3 h. Afterwards, BrdU incorporation was measured spectrophotometrically according to manufacturers instructions (Millipore, Molsheim, France). Alternatively, cells were labeled with a mouse monoclonal proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) antibody (PC-10, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Heidelberg, Germany) and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) counterstain (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA, USA). PCNA-positive cells in five random optical fields from six independent experiments each were counted at 400 magnification. 2.4. Apoptosis Assays Apoptotic cells were detected by Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining of HUVECs, 48 h after treatment with DMSO, GW0742, or GSK3787 using the In Situ Cell Death Detection Kit (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Meylan, France) according to the manufacturers instructions. LLC1 cells were incubated with APC-conjugated annexin V (Roche, Meylan, France) and counterstained with propidium iodide to distinguish necrotic from apoptotic cell death. LLC1 cells treated with 100 nmol/L Staurosporine (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) overnight served as positive controls. 2.5. Immunofluorescence Assays Cells were fixed for 10 min on ice with 4% paraformaldehyde in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). After PBS washes, cells were incubated for 1 h at room temperature in blocking solution (1% Triton X-100, 1%BSA, 5% donkey serum in PBS). Cells were then immuno-stained overnight at 4 C in blocking solution containing the following primary antibodies: rabbit polyclonal anti PPAR/ (ThermoFisher Scientific, Nimes, France, 1:200) and mouse monoclonal PDGFRB (ThermoFisher Scientific, 1:300), or goat polyclonal PDGFB antibody (Abcam, Cambridge, UK, 1:50), or mouse monoclonal anti Isobavachalcone c-Kit (Abcam, 1:500). After three washes with PBS/0.1% Triton X-100, slides were incubated for 1 h 30 min at room temperature with Dylight 488 donkey anti-mouse or Dylight 488 donkey anti-goat and Dylight 594 donkey anti-rabbit secondary antibodies in PBS containing 0.5% Triton X-100, 1%BSA,.