Growth factor responsiveness and alterations in growth factor homeostasis in Syrian hamster embryo cells during in vitro transformation.

Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells were investigated for their growth factor responsiveness as well as changes in growth factor homeostasis, including alterations in autocrine growth factor production and growth factor responsiveness, during in vitro transformation. For wild-type SHE cells, fetal bovine serum (FBS), epidermal growth factor (EGF) family members, platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) family members, fibroblast growth factor family members, interleukin-4, interleukin-9, oncostatin M, hepatocyte growth factor, erythropoietin and pituitary extract were found to be mitogenic. SHE cell mitogenesis was inhibited in response to transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) family members, interleukin-1 alpha, interleukin-1 beta and nerve growth factor. Additional experiments were conducted to study alterations in growth factor responsiveness to three SHE cell mitogens (FBS, EGF and PDGF) and one inhibitor of mitogenesis (TGF-beta) during SHE cell in vitro transformation. Alterations in either EGF, PDGF or TGF-beta responsiveness were observed in 7/8 SHE transformed lineages during the stepwise transformation process. Finally, 6/8 lineages underwent alterations which resulted in the production of autocrine growth factors during the transformation process. These results indicate that multiple alterations in growth factor homeostasis occur during the in vitro transformation process.