EXPRESSION OF FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR GENE FAMILY AND ITS RECEPTOR GENE FAMILY IN THE HUMAN UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL-TRACT

All of 13 human esophageal cancer cell lines contained mRNAs for both basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and its receptor, FGFR1/N-sam pr otein, while they did not have mRNAs for keratinocyte growth factor (K GF) despite the presence of mRNAs for the KGF receptor gene, K-sam. Th e results indicate that in human esophageal cancer, bFGF plays roles i n an autocrine manner, while KGF acts as a paracrine mediator. In cont rast, only one of seven human gastric cancer cell lines contained bFGF mRNAs, while three out of the seven had mRNAs for FGFR1/N-sam protein . The KGF gene was not expressed in any of the gastric cancer cell lin es, while K-sam mRNAs were detected in six out of the seven. The resul ts demonstrate that in most human gastric cancers, bFGF does not act a s an autocrine mediator, while KGF acts as a paracrine factor. The mRN As for the other four members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) fa mily, including acidic FGF, int-2 protein, hst-1 protein, FGF5 protein and FGF6/hst-2 protein could not be detected in the esophageal and ga stric cancer cell lines. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.