We demonstrated by means of RT–PCR and Northern blotting that pancreatic and colon adenocarcinoma cells express various angiogenic factors like the endothelial cell mitogens- VEGF and bFGF, ETS-1 (documented as an angiogenic factor by Oda et al, 1999a), as well as haemoxygenase 1 (unpublished data), which has been recently found to induce angiogenesis (Deramaudt et al, 1998). This evidence concerns the gene VEGFA and colon adenocarcinoma.