CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF ANTIGASTRIN, ANTIEPIDERMAL GROWTH-FACTOR, ANTI-ESTRADIOL, AND ANTI-LUTEINIZING HORMONE-RELEASING HORMONE ANTIBODIES ON THE PROLIFERATION OF 27 CELL-LINES FROM THE GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT

Numerous data from published reports prove that the proliferation of g astrointestinal tumour cell Lines are under the control of many hormon es or growth factors, or both. Most of these publications report the i nfluence on a very small number of cell Lines of one or two such facto rs only. This work deals with the in vitro characterisation of the inf luence of the anti-gastrin, the anti-epidermal growth factor (EGF), th e anti-oestradiol (E(2)), and the anti-luteinising hormone releasing h ormone (LHRH) antibodies on the proliferation of a large series of gas trointestinal cell lines. Cell proliferation was assessed by means of the colorimetric MTT assay on a series of 27 gastrointestinal cell lin es obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Of the 2 7 cell lines, the anti-astrin, the anti-EGF, the anti-E(2), and the an ti-LHRH neutralising antibodies considerably influenced the proliferat ion of 13, 25, 12, and 16. No gastrointestinal cell Line was unrespons ive to the four antibodies simultaneously. The anti-gastrin and anti-E GF antibody induced effects on the 27 gastrointestinal cell line proli feration were significantly correlated, as was also the case for the a nti-E(2) anti-LHRH antibody induced effects. Of the anti-gastrin, the anti-EGF, the antiE(2), was the anti-EGF onethat had the greatest infl uence, both quantitatively and qualitatively on gastrointestinal cell proliferation. The correlation of the effects of definite anti-hormone antibodies is suggestive of a common mechanism of action for the corr esponding hormones and casts some doubt on the efficiency of anti-horm one monotherapy.