M. Tachibana et al., GRANULOCYTE-COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR-RECEPTOR EXPRESSION ON HUMAN TRANSITIONAL-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE BLADDER, British Journal of Cancer, 75(10), 1997, pp. 1489-1496
Receptors for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSFRs) have bee
n confirmed on the cell surfaces of several nonhaematopoietic cell typ
es, including bladder cancer cells. This observation has naturally led
to the hypothesis that the expression of G-CSFR on these cells may en
hance their growth by G-CSF. In this study, the expression of G-CSFR w
as determined in both established human bladder cancer cell lines and
primary bladder cancers. We studied five different human bladder cance
r cell lines (KU-1, KU-7, T-24, NBT-2 and KK) and 26 newly diagnosed b
ladder tumours. G-CSFR mRNA expressions on cultured cell lines were de
termined using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT
-PCR) method. Furthermore, the G-CSFR binding experiments on the cultu
red cell lines were conducted using the (NaI)-I-125-labelled G-CSF lig
and-binding assay method. Moreover, the G-CSFR mRNA expressions on pri
mary bladder tumour specimens were assessed using the in situ RT-PCR m
ethod. Three out of the five cultured cell lines (KU-1, NBT-2 and KK)
exhibited G-CSFR mRNA signals when the RT-PGR method was used. The G-C
SFR binding experiments showed an equilibrium dissociation constant (K
-d) of 490 pM for KU-1, 340 pM for NET-2 and 103 pM for KK cells. With
in situ RT-PCR, the tumour cells of 6 out of 26 primary bladder tumou
r specimens (23.1%) presented positive G-CSFR mRNA signals. Thus, in t
his study, G-CSFR expression was frequently observed on bladder cancer
cells. Therefore, the clinical use of G-CSF for patients with bladder
cancer should be selected with great care.