Biosynthesis of interleukin-6, an autocrine growth factor for melanoma, isregulated by melanoma-derived histamine

Interleukin-6 is an autocrine growth factor in advanced stage melaloma and biosynthesis of IL-6 is increased by histamine in various cell lines. In ou r study we analysed the direct relation of histamine and IL-6 synthesis in human melanoma cell lines. All melanoma cells contained IL-G mRNA, but only metastatic melanoma cells secreted the IL-G protein. The HI histamine rece ptor antagonist triprolidine decreased gene expression and biosynthesis of IL-6, while other histamine receptor antagonists had no effect. These data indicate that endogeneous histamine has a definite role in the regulation o f local a-G, suggesting that histamine and IL-6 could be part of autocrine growth regulation of the tumor.