title: Synthesis of basic fibroblast growth factor by murine mast cells. Regulation by transforming growth factor beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and stem cell factor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mast cells (MC) are involved in a wide spectrum of disorders characterized by neovascularization and fibroproliferation. We and others recently reported that human MC are a source of basic fibroblast growth factor (b FGF-2), a potent angiogenic and mitogenic polypeptide, in several disease conditions, such as chronic inflammation, hemangioma, and benign cutaneous mastocytosis. These findings suggest that FGF-2 may be an important mediator of cell proliferation and angiogenesis associated with MC. Since MC are heterogeneous across species, it is unknown whether FGF-2 expression is a feature common to all MC, or whether FGF-2 expression by MC can be regulated. We therefore examined FGF-2 expression by MC in mouse tissue and MC lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunostaining, RT-PCR, ELISA, immunoblot and Northern blot analyses were employed to study four murine MC lines for FGF-2 expression and its regulation by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), stem cell factor (SCF), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mouse tissue MC and three of four murine MC lines (CFTL-12, CFTL-15, ABFTL-3) express FGF-2 as judged by immunostaining, ELISA, Western blot and Northern blot analyses, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. While TNF-alpha appeared to downregulate FGF-2 mRNA levels, treatment with SCF or TGF-beta resulted in an increase in the expression of FGF-2 at mRNA level which can be attenuated by TNF-alpha. However, the concurrent increase in FGF-2 protein was negligible, possibly due to immaturity of these cell lines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Expression of FGF-2 may be a ubiquitous feature of MC in other species in addition to humans, and can be selectively regulated by SCF, TGF-beta and TNF-alpha.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, Casey Eye Institute, Portland, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stenberg
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Liebler
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Planck
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015536:Down-Regulation; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D019089:Stem Cell Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000494:pharmacology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019089:Stem Cell Factor; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2