Human recombinant insulin-like growth factor I. I. Development of a serum-free medium for clonal density assay of growth factors using BALB/c 3T3 mouse embryo fibroblasts

Chemical heterogeneity as a result of hydroxylamine cleavage of a fusion protein of human insulin-like growth factor I

Recombinant DNA techniques were used to biosynthesize human insulin-like growth factor I (hIGF-I) as a fusion protein wherein the fusion polypeptide is an IgG-binding moiety derived from staphylococcal protein A. This fusion protein is produced in Escherichia coli and secreted into the fermentation broth. In order to release mature recombinant-derived hIGF-I (rhIGF-I), the fusion protein is treated with hydroxylamine, which cleaves a susceptible Asn-Gly bond that has been engineered into the fusion protein gene. Reversed-phase h.p.l.c. was used to estimate the purity of the rhIGF-I preparations, especially for the quantification of the methionine sulphoxide-containing variant. It was determined that hydroxylamine cleavage of the fusion protein produced, as a side reaction, hydroxamates of the asparagine and glutamine residues in rhIGF-I. Although isoelectric focusing was effective in detecting, and reversed-phase h.p.l.c. for producing enriched fractions of the hydroxamate variants, ion-exchange chromatography was a more definitive procedure, as it allowed quantification and facile removal of these variants. The identity of the variants as hydroxamates was established by Staphylococcus aureus V8 proteinase digestion, followed by m.s., as the modification was transparent to amino acid and N-terminal sequence analyses. The biological activity of rhIGF-I was established by its ability to incorporate [3H]thymidine into the DNA of BALB/c373 cells and by a radioreceptor assay utilizing human placental membranes. Both assays demonstrate that the native, recombinant and methionine sulphoxide and hydroxamate IGF-I variants are essentially equipotent.

Primary culture of adult mouse lung fibroblasts in serum-free medium: responses to growth factors

We report a completely serum-free system for primary culture of fibroblasts from explants of adult mouse lung tissue which permits bioassays for cytokine activity to be performed using unselected populations of cells at low passage number, without interference by serum binding proteins or interacting growth factors. Cultures were established on collagen-coated surfaces in medium MCDB 201 containing albumin, transferrin, epidermal growth factor, lipids, prostaglandin E1, vitamin E, and reducing agents. The cells were morphologically and ultrastructurally typical of fibroblasts in culture and demonstrated expression of vimentin and induction of expression of desmin in culture. Proliferation of the cells was reproducible between different primary cultures and was growth factor dependent. Both cycling and growth-arrested cells exhibited increased DNA synthesis when stimulated with epidermal growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, or basic fibroblast growth factor, which functioned as complete mitogens, but did not respond to insulin, tumor necrosis factor or interleukin-1 beta. Maximal induction of DNA synthesis by epidermal growth factor required the continued presence of the mitogen in the culture medium. These results cannot be satisfactorily explained by the competence-progression model of responses to mitogenic stimuli but support and extend the findings of other studies using diploid fibroblasts.

Scoring of Cytotoxicity by Image Analysis using Animal Cell Cultures

The estimation and assessment of toxic effects can be made clearer by direct observation of the target object — the living cell. Following this approach we continuously assess the reactions of cell cultures (at a range of densities) by using image analysis equipment. The parameters evaluated are: growth rate, alteration of cell cycle time, cell progeny, and mortality rate. The use of multi-well culture plates during the observation period enables the effects of different agents at different concentrations to be examined simultaneously under the same experimental conditions. The automatic observation of the fate of many individual cells permits the accurate quantification and characterisation of cytotoxic effects for the exposed cells and their progeny. Using this method, we have examined ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), cetyltrimethyl-ammonium chloride (CTAC), and Na-aciclovir (NaA), and we demonstrate the distinction between reversible and irreversible cell damage.

Identification and purification of truncated insulin-like growth factor I from porcine uterus. Evidence for high biological potency

We report the completion of the purification of uterine-derived growth factors (UDGF) described previously by this laboratory [Ikeda, T., & Sirbasku, D.A. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 4049-4064]. During isolation, the mitogenic activity was monitored by using the human MCF-7 breast cancer cells in serum-free Ham's F12 and Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (1:1, v/v) containing 15 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (pH 7.2), 200 micrograms/mL bovine serum albumin, and 10 micrograms/mL human transferrin. This medium sustained growth for several days in response to a single addition of growth factor. The isolation of UDGF began with acetic acid extraction followed by sulfopropyl-Sephadex chromatography, Bio-Gel P-10 molecular sieve fractionation, and a series of reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography separations. Purifications [[(1.0-8.5) X 10(6)]-fold] of three mitogens (5-20 ng each) were achieved. The mitogens were shown by protein microsequencing to be DES 1----3 to DES 1----6 forms of insulin-like growth factor I (truncated IGF-I). An Mr estimated by 125I labeling, urea-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and autoradiography was consistent with a DES 1----3(4) N alpha truncation. Immunoadsorption and radioimmunoassay confirmed immunological properties equivalent to IGF-I. Radioreceptor assays showed truncated IGF-I was functionally equivalent to recombinant IGF-I. The ED50 values of DES 1----3 IGF-I and recombinant IGF-I for MCF-7 cell growth were 0.8-6.0 and 30-150 pg/mL, respectively. With Balb/c 3T3 mouse fibroblasts, the ED50 of DES 1----3 IGF-I was 100 times lower than that of IGF-I. We conclude that the major acid-stable low-Mr mitogenic activities isolated from uterus are very potent forms of truncated IGF-I capable of stimulating growth of epithelial and mesenchymal cells.