Comparison of manganese superoxide dismutase precursor induction ability in human hepatoma cells with or without hepatitis B virus DNA insertion.

In a previous study (Hajnická et al., Acta virol. 38, 55-57 (1994)), we described synthesis of a 23 K protein in high amounts in the PLC/PRF/5 human hepatoma cell line after stimulation with sera of patients suffering from liver cirrhosis. In this study we identified this protein as manganense superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD). When PLC/PRF/5 cells stimulated by various cytokines (interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), IL-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), TNF-beta, IL-6, tumor growth factor-alpha (TGF-alpha), TGF-beta, and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were compared, the most effective was IL-1, followed by TNF-alpha and IL-6. Other cytokines had no effect on the stimulation of Mn-SOD. IL-1 alpha was selected for stimulation of Mn-SOD production in four human hepatoma cell lines (PLC/PRF/5, Hep-3B, Hep-G2 and Sk-Hep 1). Maximum Mn-SOD production occurred in PLC/PRF/5 cells. In other cell lines, Mn-SOD production was lower, reaching 35.7% and 31.5% in Hep-3B and Sk-Hep-1 cells, respectively, while it was only 4.3% in Hep-G2 cells.