Induction and suppression of type I collagenase in cultured human cells.

A number of peptide growth factors have been shown to induce the secretion of type I collagenase into the medium of human fibroblast cultures (Chua et al., 1985). In this study the ability of eye-derived growth factor, lectin and tumor-promoting agents on collagenase induction in human fibroblast cells were examined. These agents were found to be able to induce collagenase production to a similar extent as epidermal growth factor. Dexamethasone at 10-100 nM was found to suppress collagenase induction in human fibroblast cells. The cell-type specificity of this enzyme induction by growth factors was studied by using a human epidermoid carcinoma cell line, A-431. An Mr 55,000 band appeared in the medium of A-431 cells upon 22 h exposure to EGF. Two-dimensional peptide pattern of the Mr 55,000 band in A-431 cells was identical to the counterpart in HF cells. Our results indicated that the induction of collagenase was not unique to human fibroblast cultures.