Human plasma epidermal growth factor/beta-urogastrone is associated with blood platelets.
Open Access
- 1 July 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Society for Clinical Investigation in JCI Insight
- Vol. 72 (1), 249-259
- https://doi.org/10.1172/jci110964
Abstract
Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) has previously been isolated from urine and probably is identical to human beta-urogastrone (hUG). Immunoreactive hEGF/UG has been found in the plasma of normal subjects. In this study, using immunoaffinity chromatography to extract hEGF/UG from plasma, we found that immunoreactive hEGF/UG in blood was associated with blood platelets. It was present in platelet-rich, but not platelet-poor plasma and serum, and was found predominantly in the platelet fraction of whole blood. Sephadex G-50 Fine gel-exclusion chromatography of an extract of outdated blood bank platelets revealed two hEGF/UG components, one of which eluted in the void volume, and the other of which coeluted with purified standard hEGF/UG. The former hEGF/UG component was a high-molecular weight form that was cleaved into hEGF/UG by incubation with either mouse EGF/UG-associated arginine esterase or trypsin. It appeared to be identical to the high-molecular weight hEGF/UG previously reported in human urine, except for its apparently equal activities in radioimmunoassay and radioreceptor assay. The latter hEGF/UG component was immunologically, biologically, and physiochemically indistinguishable from highly purified hEGF/UG from human urine and was immunologically different from purified human platelet-derived growth factor. Platelet-associated hEGF/UG may account for the mitogenic activity of serum in cell lines in which platelet-derived growth factor is not active. Since hEGF/UG appears to be liberated from platelets during coagulation, platelet-associated EGF/UG may be involved in normal vascular and tissue repair and in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic lesions. The discovery that the EGF/UG in plasma is associated with blood platelets raises important new possibilities for its role in human health and disease.Keywords
This publication has 34 references indexed in Scilit:
- Platelet-derived growth factor. Isolation by a large-scale procedure and analysis of subunit compositionBiochemical Journal, 1981
- Epidermal Growth Factor (Urogastrone) in Human Fluids: Size Heterogeneity*Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 1979
- Studies of the release from human platelets of the growth factor for cultured human arterial smooth muscle cells.Circulation Research, 1978
- A platelet factor stimulating human normal glial cellsExperimental Cell Research, 1976
- The Isolation of the Urogastrones — Inhibitors of Gastric Acid Secretion — from Human UrineHoppe-Seyler´s Zeitschrift Für Physiologische Chemie, 1975
- Characterization of the High Molecular Weight Form of Epidermal Growth FactorJournal of Biological Chemistry, 1974
- Characterization of the Binding Protein for Epidermal Growth FactorJournal of Biological Chemistry, 1974
- Epidermal growth factor and a new derivative. Rapid isolation procedures and biological and chemical characterization.1972
- Cleavage of Structural Proteins during the Assembly of the Head of Bacteriophage T4Nature, 1970
- Isolation of a Mouse Submaxillary Gland Protein Accelerating Incisor Eruption and Eyelid Opening in the New-born AnimalJournal of Biological Chemistry, 1962