Mm. Dikov et al., A FUNCTIONAL FIBROBLAST GROWTH-FACTOR-I IMMUNOGLOBULIN FUSION PROTEIN, The Journal of biological chemistry, 273(25), 1998, pp. 15811-15817
Proteins of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family play diverse rol
es in embryonic development, angiogenesis, and wound healing. The most
well studied targets of FGF activity typically are cells of mesoderma
l and neuroectodermal origin; in addition, expression of FGF-1 (acidic
FGF) is increased at several sites of chronic immunologic injury, and
recent studies show that FGF-1 also may interact with cells of the im
mune system. In some human T cells, FGF-1 can induce signals necessary
for production of interleukin-a, a key cytokine required for T cell p
roliferation. To better characterize the interaction of FGF-1 with FGF
receptors on T cells, a fusion protein was constructed containing a p
ortion of the constant region of human IgG1 (Fc) at the amino terminus
of FGF-1, The Fc-FGF-1 fusion protein retained FGF function as determ
ined by stimulation of tyrosine phosphorylation and DNA synthesis in N
IH 3T3 cells. Binding of the intact fusion protein to FGF receptor 1 (
FGFR1) on T cells was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation of the recep
tor bound to Fc-FGF-1 and by flow cytometry showing binding of fusion
protein to T cells expressing FGFR1. This functional Fc-FGF-1 protein
should prove useful in identifying FGFR-expressing cells.