Immunoreactive hepatocyte growth factor is present in tissue extracts from human breast cancer but not in conditioned medium of human breast cancer cell lines.
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a novel mitogen for mature hepatocytes. In the present study, we have measured immunoreactive (ir)-HGF concentration in tumor extracts of 82 primary human breast cancers using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Ir-HGF was detectable in all tissue extracts, the concentration ranging from 1.4 to 306.5 ng/100 mg protein (median value: 11.2 ng/100 mg protein). Correlation analyses between ir-HGF concentration and clinicopathological factors showed that the ir-HGF level was significantly higher in tumors with sizes of more than 5.0 cm compared with those less than 5.0 cm. In contrast, no detectable amount of ir-HGF was secreted into culture medium of two breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and ZR-75-1, suggesting that the cancer cell itself has no ability to produce ir-HGF.
Yamashita
J
J
Department of Surgery II, Kumamoto University Medical School, Japan.
Ogawa
M
M
Beppu
T
T
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000737:chemistry; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000737:chemistry; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D014020:Tissue Extracts; D017228:Hepatocyte Growth Factor