Molnar C, Buratti T, Wiedermann C J, Tilg H
Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Eur Cytokine Netw. 2000 Mar;11(1):87-90.
Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a cytokine involved in tissue regeneration, angiogenesis and lateral vessel growth, is secreted as a biological-inactive, single-chain precursor named pro-HGF. In case, of tissue injury pro-HGF is proteolytically cleaved at the extracellular locus by serine proteases. Results obtained from in vitro experiments showed that urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) can cleave single-chain HGF. In this study we measured serum HGF levels in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MCI). Two groups of patients were compared. One group (n = 7) was treated with a conventional therapy and the other group (n = 7) was subjected to a thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rtPA). Serum samples were collected at time of admission and subsequently 12-16 hours, 20-30 hours and 50-60 hours after onset of chest pain. At admission and before administration of rtPA, serum HGF levels peaked at 16.8 +/- 2.2 ng/ml in the lysed group and at 20.7 +/- 6.5 ng/ml in the non-lysed group. Levels then continuously declined, reaching lowest values 50-60 hours after onset of chest pain (3.2 +/- 1.3 ng/ml in the group treated with rtPA versus 4.4 +/- 0.9 ng/ml in the non-lysed group). No statistical significant difference could be detected between the two groups at any time. We suggest that serine proteases other than tPA are involved in HGF activation in vivo.
肝细胞生长因子（HGF）是一种参与组织再生、血管生成和侧支血管生长的细胞因子，以名为前HGF的生物无活性单链前体形式分泌。在组织损伤的情况下，前HGF在细胞外位点被丝氨酸蛋白酶进行蛋白水解切割。体外实验结果表明，尿激酶型纤溶酶原激活剂（uPA）和组织型纤溶酶原激活剂（tPA）可切割单链HGF。在本研究中，我们测量了急性心肌梗死（MCI）患者的血清HGF水平。比较了两组患者。一组（n = 7）接受传统治疗，另一组（n = 7）接受重组组织型纤溶酶原激活剂（rtPA）溶栓治疗。在入院时以及胸痛发作后12 - 16小时、20 - 30小时和50 - 60小时采集血清样本。在入院时和rtPA给药前，溶解组血清HGF水平峰值为16.8 +/- 2.2 ng/ml，未溶解组为20.7 +/- 6.5 ng/ml。然后水平持续下降，在胸痛发作后50 - 60小时达到最低值（rtPA治疗组为3.2 +/- 1.3 ng/ml，未溶解组为4.4 +/- 0.9 ng/ml）。两组在任何时间均未检测到统计学上的显著差异。我们认为，除tPA外的丝氨酸蛋白酶参与了体内HGF的激活。
