Induction of glutathione S-transferase P-form in primary cultured rat hepatocytes by epidermal growth factor and insulin.

The effects of epidermal growth factor (EGF) (10 ng/ml) and insulin (100 nM) on the expression of glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), especially the GST-P form (GST 7-7), were examined in primary cultured rat hepatocytes in serum-free medium. On culture with EGF and insulin, the GST activities towards 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene were transiently decreased on day 2 to 10% of those of freshly isolated hepatocytes and then increased to 60 to 100% of those of freshly isolated cells on day 4. Western blot analysis of GSTs revealed that GST-P, which is not present in freshly isolated hepatocytes, was markedly induced and that GST subunits 3 and 4 of the Mu class also increased after addition of EGF and/or insulin, while the subunits 1 and 2 of the Alpha class disappeared. Northern blot analysis showed that on addition of EGF and insulin the level of GST-P mRNA was also elevated and expressions of the nuclear oncogenes c-jun and c-fos were enhanced. These results suggest that the enhanced expression of GST-P induced by EGF or insulin in primary cultured rat hepatocytes might be regulated by JUN and FOS proteins.