Study on the mechanism of epidermal growth factor-induced proliferation of hepatoma cells

摘要

AIM: Many growth factors, such as epidermal growth factor(EGF), are associated with the carcinogenesis. EGF plays itsrole in the proliferation of hepatoma cells through bindingwith EGF receptor (EGFR) and a series of signal transduction.But the postreceptor pathway is still not clear. In the presentexperiment, we studied the effect of tyrosine kinase, proteinkinase C, Na+/H+ exchange, calmodulin and voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel on EGF-induced hepatoma cellproliferation.METHODS: Hepatoma cell line SMMC7721 was cultured inRPMI1640 serum-free medium. In order to study the effectof thyrosine kinase, protein kinase C, Na+/H+ exchange,calmodulin and voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel on humanheptoma cell proliferation induced by epidermal growth factor(EGF), DNA synthesis rate of hepatoma cells was measuredby the method of 3H-TdR incorporation.RESULTS: EGF (10-9 M) stimulated the proliferation of heptomacells significantly (3H-TdR incorporation was 1 880+281 cpm/well, P＜0.05), and this effect was significantly inhibited bytyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein (3H-TdR incorporation was808±209 cpm/well, P＜0.001). Calmedulin inhibitor W-7, proteinkinase C inhibitor H-7 and Na+/H+ exchange inhibitor amilorideindividually had significant inhibiting effect on EGF-inducedproliferation of hepatoma cells (3H-TdR incorporation was978±87.3 cpm/well, 1 241+147 cpm/well, 1 380+189 cpm/well, respectivly, P＜0.001, P＜0.01, P＜0.05), but they allhad no effect on the basal level proliferation of culturedhepatoma cells (3H-TdR incorporation was 1 284+260 cpm/well, 1 179+150 cpm/well, 1 392+152 cpm/well, respectivly,3H-TdR incorporation of the control was 1353+175 cpm/well, P＞0.05). Voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel inhibitorverapamil had no inhibition on EGF-induced proliferation ofhepatoma cells (3H-TdR incorporation was 1 637+133 cpm/well, P＞0.05), it also had no effect on the basal levelproliferation of cultured hepatoma cells (3H-TdR incorporationwas 1196+112 cpm/well,P＞0.05).CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that tyrosine kinase, Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent pathway, protein kinase C and Na+/H+ exchange play a critical role in EGF-induced proliferationof hepatoma cells and that the effect of EGF is independentof voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel.