S. Nishimura et al., HEPATOCYTE GROWTH-FACTOR ACCELERATES RESTITUTION OF INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL-CELLS, Journal of gastroenterology, 33(2), 1998, pp. 172-178
Many cytokines are involved in the repair of damaged tissue, and one o
f these, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), is involved not only with liv
er regeneration but also in the repair of other tissues, To investigat
e the importance of HGF in the repair of the small intestine, we evalu
ated its effect and that of other growth factors in IEC-6 cells, an in
testinal epithelial cell line derived from normal rat small intestine,
Round ''wounds'' were made in confluent monolayers of IEC-6 by silico
n rubber-tipped steel rods and various cytokines: transforming growth
factor alpha (TGF-alpha), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta
1), keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), and HGF, were added. We photogra
phed the repaired monolayers every 24h and calculated the ratios of ar
eas not covered by cells to initial areas. Cell proliferation with TGF
-alpha, TGF-beta. KGF, or HGF was examined in terms of [3H]-thymidine
uptake. Finally, we determined c-met (the HGF receptor) mRNA in the IE
C-6 cells by Northern blot hybridization. HGF was the most potent of t
he cytokines in accelerating repair of the damaged monolayer of IEC-6.
HGF was also 1.34 times more effective than control the medium for in
ducing cell proliferation of IEC-6. By Northern blot hybridization, th
ree bands of mRNA bound to c-met cDNA. These results suggest that HCF
is important in the repair of the small intestine.