Acidic fibroblast growth factor is a modulator of epithelial plasticity in a rat bladder carcinoma cell line.
During normal embryogenesis and neoplastic transformation epithelia change their state of differentiation and degree of cohesiveness. It is thus essential to identify the signals modulating these transitions. We report here that acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) induces cells derived from a rat bladder carcinoma to lose their epithelial character and to acquire some properties typical of mesenchymal cells. The structurally related basic FGF did not have such an effect; both factors, however, had a mitogenic activity for these cells. Two distinct populations of receptors for acidic FGF and basic FGF were distinguished by their ligand-binding characteristics. The observations that both acidic and basic FGFs had a mitogenic effect on NBT-II cells and that only acidic FGF caused cell dissociation and dispersion strongly suggest that these two biological activities could be medicated through distinct signaling pathways.
Vallés
A M
AM
Laboratoire de Physiopathologie du Développement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.
Boyer
B
B
Badet
J
J
Tucker
G C
GC
Barritault
D
D
Thiery
J P
JP
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007700:Kinetics; D051381:Rats; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms
D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D017468:Receptors, Fibroblast Growth Factor; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors