title: The role of heregulin-alpha as a motility factor and amphiregulin as a growth factor in wound healing.
abstract: Wound healing is a complex process of which growth and motility are essential features. The aim of this study was to search for keratinocyte-derived secreted factors that may play a role in these mechanisms, and their corresponding receptors. Growth and motility factors were purified from conditioned medium from cultured primary keratinocytes. Receptor and growth factor expression profiles were investigated by immunohistochemical, western blotting, and in situ hybridization analysis on cultured keratinocytes and tissue sections derived from chronic wounds. The most potent autocrine growth factor for keratinocytes, which it was possible to purify and sequence from keratinocyte-conditioned medium, is amphiregulin. Its receptor HER-1 is up-regulated on the membranes of keratinocytes lining the edge of the wound. From the same keratinocyte-conditioned medium, heregulin-alpha was purified as a potent motility factor for keratinocytes. Its receptor is HER-3, which is up-regulated on the membranes of keratinocytes lining the edge of the wound and on keratinocytes that had migrated towards the centre of the wound. HER-4 - another receptor for heregulin-alpha - is weakly present in occasional cells near the edge of the wound. The co-receptor for HER-3 and HER-4 is HER-2/neu, which is also present in epidermal cells but not overexpressed. This study shows that heregulin-alpha is a potent motility factor for normal epithelial cells and that it plays a central role in the process of wound healing of stratified epithelia. Heregulin-alpha has already been shown to be the motility factor leading to migration of HER-2/neu-overexpressing breast cancer cells. The role of amphiregulin as a growth factor and of heregulin-alpha as a motility factor for keratinocytes in epidermal and mucosal wound healing parallels their motility and growth induction in carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: N Goormaghtigh Institute of Pathology, University Hospital, Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vera R J
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Schelfhout
authors.forename: Elisabeth D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Coene
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delaey
authors.forename: Anouk A T
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Waeytens
authors.forename: Leen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Rycke
authors.forename: Mattias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deleu
authors.forename: Christian R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: De Potter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D066258:Amphiregulin; D000818:Animals; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D066255:EGF Family of Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D020890:Neuregulin-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D019226:Oral Ulcer / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D020893:Receptor, ErbB-3 / Q000378:metabolism; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D015854:Up-Regulation; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C587848:AREG protein, human; D066258:Amphiregulin; C587849:Areg protein, mouse; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D066255:EGF Family of Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D020890:Neuregulin-1; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C079744:her-1 protein, C elegans; C117463:heregulin alpha; D020893:Receptor, ErbB-3