Growth and differentiation in cultured human thyroid cells: effects of epidermal growth factor and thyrotropin.

Human thyroid cells were grown and subcultured in vitro to examine their responses to known hormones and growth factors, and to serum. The cells were obtained from surgical specimens and were either neoplastic or nonneoplastic. The effects of culture conditions on cell growth were measured by changes in cell numbers and by stimulation of [3H]thymidine incorporation. The results showed that serum (0.5%) was essential for cell proliferation, and that a mixture of insulin (10 micrograms/ml), transferrin (5 micrograms/ml), hydrocortisone (10 micrograms/ml), somatostatin (10 ng/ml), and glycyl-histidyl-lysine (10 ng/ml) enhanced the effect of serum. Maximum growth of the cells was obtained when epidermal growth factor was present at 10(-9) M. Differentiation was measured by production of thyroglobulin, which was found to be stimulated by thyrotropin. This system provides a means to study the hormonal control of growth and differentiation in human thyroid cells.