ヌードマウス移植扁平上皮癌の増殖に対するヒトEGFの影響

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF), which is functionally indistinguishable from murine EGF, is a potent mitogen for many types of cells and found in human tissues and body fluids, and the amount of its receptor (EGF·R) has been revealed to be elevated in human squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) including oral cancer. In order to investigate the role of hEGF and overexpressed EGF·R in the carcinogene sis of SCC, we examined the effects of hEGF on the growth of tumors implanted in athymic mice as well as in vitro. Although hEGF suppressd the in vitro growth of A 431 and ZA cells in a dose dependent manner, which were SCC cells hyperproducing EGF·R accompanied with its gene amplification, their growth in athymic mice was not affected by hEGF administered intraperitoneally. On the other hand, hEGF did not inhibit the growth of AZ521 cell either in vitro or in vivo, which was gastric cancer cell line used as a control. These results suggest that the roles of hEGF in vivo differ from it in vitro or that there may be an alternate growth mechanism via EGF·R on SCC cells.