S. Hayashi et al., A SYNTHETIC PEPTIDE INHIBITOR FOR ALPHA-CHEMOKINES INHIBITS THE GROWTH OF MELANOMA CELL-LINES, The Journal of clinical investigation, 99(11), 1997, pp. 2581-2587
Melanoma growth stimulatory activity (MGSA/GRO alpha is a 73 amino aci
d peptide sharing sequence characteristics with the alpha-chemokine su
perfamily. MGSA/GRO alpha is produced by diverse melanoma cell lines a
nd reported to act as an autocrine growth factor for the cells. We tes
ted the binding of MGSA/GRO alpha to melanoma cell lines, Hs 294T and
RPMI-7951, and found that these cells could bind to MGSA/GRO alpha but
not to interleukin-8. Recently, we defined a novel hexapeptide, antil
eukinate, which is a potent inhibitor of binding of alpha-chemokines t
o their receptors on neutrophils. When antileukinate was added to mela
noma cells, it inhibited the binding of MGSA/GRO alpha. The growth of
cells from both melanoma cell lines was suppressed completely in the p
resence of 100 mu M peptide, The cell growth inhibition was reversed b
y the removal of the peptide from the culture media or by the addition
of the excess amount of MGSA/GRO alpha, The viability of Hs 294T cell
s in the presence of 100 mu M peptide was > 92%. These findings sugges
t that MGSA/GRO alpha is an essential autostimulatory growth factor fo
r melanoma cells and antileukinate inhibits their growth by preventing
MGSA/GRO alpha. from binding to its receptors.