title: Tumor necrosis factor alpha enhances secretion of transforming growth factor beta2 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.
abstract: We studied the effect of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) on transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) secretion by human breast cell lines to further characterize the antitumor effects of TNF-alpha. We found that TNF-alpha increased the secretion of TGF-beta in two established breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and ZR-75-1) but not in two immortalized human mammary epithelial cell lines (184B5 and MCF-10A). In MCF-7 cells, TNF-alpha increased the secretion of total TGF-beta 6.1-fold within 72 h in a dose-dependent manner. The secretion of both latent and active forms of TGF-beta was increased, and their ratio altered from 25:1 to 12:1 in the medium. TNF-alpha converted the secretory pattern of TGF-beta by MCF-7 cells from the heterodimeric form TGF-beta1.2 to the homodimeric form TGF-beta2. Immunoblot analysis under nonreducing conditions identified four molecular mass species of TGF-beta secreted in the culture media of untreated MCF-7 cells (238, 210, 40-55, and 25 kDa). Under reducing conditions, three molecular mass species of TGF-beta were identified: 88, 44, and 12 kDa. Gel filtration analysis demonstrated that the secreted TGF-beta within the range of 12-88 kDa was biologically active. TNF-alpha treatment did not alter the size of molecular mass species secreted by MCF-7 cells and did not change steady-state levels of mRNA for TGF-beta1 or TGF-beta2. These findings indicate that TNF-alpha may regulate quantitatively and qualitatively TGF-beta secretion by human breast cancer cells in vitro. The diverse biological activities of TGF-beta may also allow TNF-alpha to regulate the growth and metabolism of human mammary epithelial cells and/or stromal cells in a paracrine manner.
authors.affiliation: Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Danforth
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sgagias
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D020033:Protein Isoforms; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha