Hibi K, Takahashi T, Sekido Y, Ueda R, Hida T, Ariyoshi Y, Takagi H, Takahashi T
Second Department of Surgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Oncogene. 1991 Dec;6(12):2291-6.
Stem cell factor (SCF) is a pluripotent growth factor which is suggested to play an important role in proliferation and differentiation in various types of fetal and adult tissues as the ligand of the c-kit proto-oncogene product. However, very little is known about expression of the SCF gene in human malignancies. We analysed DNA and RNA extracted from 28 cell lines and 16 fresh tumor specimens of lung cancer as well as 24 cancer cell lines of various origin for SCF expression. Now we report that the SCF gene is expressed in a wide variety of human cancers including lung cancer, in marked contrast to c-kit, which is expressed in very few types of cancers. As a consequence, coexpression of both the ligand and the receptor is seen only in small-cell lung cancer, suggesting possible involvement of autocrine stimulation via this ligand-receptor system in the pathogenesis of this aggressive cancer. In addition, this study revealed that the human SCF gene is transcribed into two major forms of alternatively spliced mRNAs with different molar ratio in fetal, adult and malignant tissues.
干细胞因子（SCF）是一种多能生长因子，作为c-kit原癌基因产物的配体，被认为在各种胎儿和成人组织的增殖和分化中起重要作用。然而，关于SCF基因在人类恶性肿瘤中的表达知之甚少。我们分析了从28种细胞系和16份肺癌新鲜肿瘤标本以及24种不同来源的癌细胞系中提取的DNA和RNA，以检测SCF的表达。现在我们报告，SCF基因在包括肺癌在内的多种人类癌症中表达，这与c-kit形成鲜明对比，c-kit仅在极少数类型的癌症中表达。因此，仅在小细胞肺癌中观察到配体和受体的共表达，这表明通过这种配体-受体系统的自分泌刺激可能参与了这种侵袭性癌症的发病机制。此外，本研究还揭示，人类SCF基因在胎儿、成人和恶性组织中转录为两种主要形式的可变剪接mRNA，其摩尔比不同。
