Objective: To investigate the role of growth factors in growth regulation of human ovarian cancer cells by in vitro.
Method: The regulation effects of different growth factors on human ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910, such as on cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, the alteration of distributions of cell phase fractions and the changes of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) level in the presence of 2.5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) were analyzed.
Result: (1) Insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha) showed weak and positive effects and were dose dependent. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) strongly stimulated cell growth and DNA synthesis in HO-8910 cells, in contrast, TGF-beta 1 inhibited cell proliferation and DNA synthesis. (2) Following the actions of various growth factors on cells in vitro, corresponding alterations in the distributions of cell phase fractions, in the formation of silver-staining nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NORs) and in the cAMP content appeared.
Conclusion: The growth factors exert their growth regulating effects on ovarian cancer cells through intracellular signal transduction to bring about changes in nuclear DNA synthesis and alterations in the distribution of cell phase fractions. In the process of growth regulation on ovarian cancer cells by growth factors, the change of cAMP content presents double direction regulatory function. The growth inhibitory regulation of the TGF-beta 1 possibly functions as an autocrine. This report presents evidence supporting the important roles of the growth factors and may further the study into the mechanism of growth regulation by growth factors in this cell line.