Inhibition of IGF receptor signaling and hepatoma cell growth by an antibody to ligand oligopeptide of receptor.

摘要

Research on insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system have shown it to be potent mitogen for hepatoma cells and made it an attractive therapeutic target. But little strategy has been reported to date on targeting and sequestrating IGF against hepatoma. This study is based on the capability of ligand oligopeptide (LOP) to recognize IGF receptor with high efficiency, which is over-expressed on some hepatoma cells. We have been hypothesizing that antibody to LOP would mimic the extracellular ligand-binding domain of IGF receptor and inhibit receptor signaling and cell proliferation. Gene encoding for LOP [E5 (EPFRSPDLALETYG)] of IGF receptor was inserted into HBc carrier for expression in Escherichia coli. The monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific LOP potently inhibited signal transduction mediated by the IGF-IR interaction with IGF-I. Furthermore, it exhibited 47% inhibitory rate of soft agar colony formation and also induced apoptosis. These results indicate an anti-hepatoma potential of the mAb to an LOP ofIGF receptor could block the activation of receptor and downstream signaling pathways, and suppress the biological effects mediated by receptor.