Acidic FGF and EGF are involved in the autocrine growth stimulation of a human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line and sub-line cells.

The growth of a recently established human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, CG-1, and 5 randomly selected, single-cell-derived sub-lines in serum-free medium and in fetal-bovine-serum(FBS)-containing medium was investigated. In basal medium supplemented with insulin, transferrin, fibronectin and high-density lipoprotein, cell growth was moderately stimulated by aFGF and EGF in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, in medium containing as little as 0.5% FBS, most of the stimulatory effect of the aforementioned growth factors observed was masked. Western blotting analysis of the cell lysates and conditioned media showed that CG-1 and sub-line cells were all capable of synthesizing and releasing aFGF- and EGF-immunoreactive proteins. The amounts of these 2 growth factors synthesized and released appeared to vary among the parental cell line and sub-line cells. Moreover, the rate of basal proliferation of these cells appeared to be positively correlated with the amounts of aFGF- and EGF-immunoreactive proteins produced. Addition of the neutralizing antibodies to aFGF and EGF exerted a dose-dependent suppression on cell growth in medium containing 0.5% FBS. The results suggest a role of aFGF and EGF in autocrine growth stimulation of CG-1 and sub-line cells, and may explain the moderate response of these cells to exogenously added aFGF and EGF.