CONTENT OF GONADOTROPINS IN CULTURED HUMAN-MALIGNANT CELLS AND EFFECTS OF SODIUM-BUTYRATE TREATMENT ON GONADOTROPIN-SECRETION BY HELA-CELLS

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  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 39  (10) , 3885-3892
Abstract
Twenty-one of 82 human cell lines examined for production of human chorionic gonadotropin and its subunits (HCG-.alpha. and HCG-.beta.) produced 1 or both subunits at some phase in their growth. Fourteen produced an excess amount of free .alpha. subunit, and 7 produced HCG-.beta. or complete HCG without evidence for free .alpha. subunit synthesis. Five of the HCG-producing cell lines also contained or secreted the .beta. subunit of human luteinizing hormone [LH]. CBT cells derived from a glioblastoma multiforme and JAR choriocarcinoma cells secreted significant amounts of the .beta. subunit of human LH, while 3 other cell lines (breast carcinoma MCF-7, HeLa S3, and melanoma A375) produced small amounts of the .beta. subunit of human LH but did not appear to secrete it. Two cell lines (melanoma line A375 and SV40-transformed line SV80 [skin fibroblast]) appeared to contain small amounts of human follicle-stimulating hormone. Sodium butyrate caused a 40-fold induction in the secretion of HCG-.alpha. and HCG-.beta. by HeLa S3 cells, but the total amount of HCG-.alpha. secretion induced was 800-fold greater than that of HCG-.beta.. Induction was blocked by actinomycin D (1 .mu.g/ml) and cycloheximide (5 .mu.g/ml) but was not affected by 1-.beta.-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine at a concentration (5 .mu.g/ml) that blocked DNA synthesis 99%. These results indicate that a number of malignant human cell lines produce the subunits of placental and pituitary gonadotropins and there is frequently an excess secretion of the free .alpha. subunit common to these hormones.

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