Effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitor, erbstatin, on cell growth and growth-factor/receptor gene expression in human gastric carcinoma cells.

The effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitor, erbstatin, on cell growth and mRNA expression of growth-factor/receptor system was examined in 6 human gastric-carcinoma cell lines. Erbstatin inhibited both EGF-induced and serum-stimulated cell growth of all 6 cell lines (TMK-1, MKN-1, -7, -28, -45, -74) in a dose-dependent manner. 3H-thymidine incorporation by TMK-1 cells was also suppressed by erbstatin. Erbstatin inhibited protein kinase activity of EGF receptor, p185ERBB2 and pp60c-src in TMK-1 cells. The expression of mRNA of EGF receptor gene and ERBB-2 by TMK-1 cells was not changed by erbstatin treatment, whereas that of c-src was slightly decreased. Interestingly, erbstatin decreased membrane-bound TGF-alpha precursor as measured by anti-TGF-alpha antibody-binding assay, although mRNA expression for TGF-alpha was not altered by erbstatin. Our findings suggest that erbstatin may act as a growth inhibitor for human gastric-carcinoma cells and may not only inhibit tyrosine kinase activities but also negatively modulate the post-transcriptional step of TGF-alpha expression.