Stability of recombinant human epidermal growth factor in various solutions.

The stability of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) in various solutions was examined. hEGF degraded spontaneously and temperature-dependently to several degradation products in phosphate buffered saline or in 0.1 N acetic acid. The enzymatic degradation was observed in human serum or in pepsin/HCl solution. The structure and biological activities of these compounds were examined. The results suggest that the Asp11 and Trp50 residues are important for the receptor binding.