Gecko is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine with remarkable antineoplastic activity. However, undefined mechanisms and ambiguity regarding active ingredients limit new drug development from gecko. This study was conducted to assess anti-angiogenic properties of the aqueous extracts of fresh gecko (AG) or macromolecular components separated from AG (M-AG). An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) approach was applied to detect the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion of the tumor cells treated with AG or M-AG. The effect of AG or M-AG on vascular endothelial cell proliferation and migratory ability was analyzed by tetrazolium dye colorimetric method, transwell and wound-healing assays. Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays were used to ensure the anti-angiogenic activity of M-AG in vivo. The results showed that AG or M-AG inhibited the VEGF secretion of tumor cells, the relative inhibition rates of AG and M-AG being 27.2% and 53.2% respectively at a concentration of . AG and M-AG inhibited the vascular endothelial (VE) cell proliferation with IC50 values of and respectively. The VE cell migration potential was inhibited significantly (p ) or M-AG ( ) treatment. In vivo, neovascularization of CAM treated with M-AG was inhibited significantly (p . This study provided evidence that anti-angiogenesis is one of the anti-tumor mechanisms of AG and M-AG, with the latter as a promising active component.
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