A study of growth factor receptors in human lens epithelial cells and their relationship to fiber differentiation.

Recent studies have demonstrated that several growth factors enhance fiber differentiation in cultured human lens epithelial (HLE) cells in early passages. However, these effects gradually decrease in cells of later passages. The purpose of this investigation is to test the hypothesis that the decreasing effect of growth factors on fiber differentiation in later passages may be due to a decrease or the inactivation of growth factor receptors as a function of serial subcultures. Specimens of HLE cells were obtained from infants. First through to fourth passage cells were treated with 10 ng ml-1 of epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor or insulin-like growth factor-I. Fiber differentiation was determined from spontaneous lentoid formation by phase-contrast and transmission electron microscopy. Growth factor binding to the receptor on the cell surface was determined by transmission electron microscopy using the conjugates of colloidal gold and growth factors, and the number of receptors on the cell surface were also quantified by immunocytochemistry. Spontaneous lentoid formation was enhanced by all of the growth factors studied in the first passage. However, in the second and third passage only double layering of cells without characteristic fiber differentiation was observed while in the fourth passage, growth factors had no effect on differentiation. The number of growth factor bindings as well as the number of growth factor receptors gradually decreased with the number of passages. The loss of effect of growth factors on fiber differentiation with increasing number of passages correlated with the decrease in receptor number.