摘要Background Glioma-induced edema is considered as one of the most pathological characteristics of glioma and a significant source of morbidity and mortality.New strategies are needed for the treatment of peritumoral edema in glioma.Endostatin has been proven to be beneficial as an anti-angiogenic agent in experimental gliomas,but the effects are unclear.This study aimed to investigate the effects of endostatin on C6 glioma-induced edema.Methods Tumorigenic mice were established by subcutaneous injection of three glioma cell lines,C6-null cells and stable transfected-C6 cells overexpressing mock vector (C6-mock cells) and endostatin (C6-endo cells).Endostatin expression in xenograft C6 glioma was determined by immunostaining and Western blotting.Glioma-induced edema and tumor vessel permeability were assayed.The effect of endostatin on vascular enodothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in vivo was analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The number of vesiculo-vascuolar organelles (VVOs) formed in tumor endothelia was calculated using electron microscopy.Data were analyzed by using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Dunnett's post hoc test for multiple comparisons to the control groups.Results Overexpression of endostatin (C6-endo cells) significantly suppressed tumor growth and reduced tumor edema and vessel permeability.ELISA analysis showed that the level of VEGF protein was markedly decreased in tumor from C6-endo cells compared with tumor from C6-null cells and C6-mock cells.Similar results were obtained by Q-PCR.Furthermore,the number of VVOs observed in tumor from C6-endo mice was significantly reduced compared with tumor from C6-null cells or C6-mock cells.Conclusions Our data provide primary evidence that endostatin reduces glioma-induced edema and vascular permeability.Using endostatin may be an effective strategy for treating glioma edema.