Regulation of prolactin secretion in the human B-lymphoblastoid cell line IM-9-P3 by dexamethasone but not other regulators of pituitary prolactin secretion.

We examined whether the ectopic production of human(h) PRL by the human B-lymphoblastoid cell line IM-9-P3 is under hormonal control. We demonstrate that PRL secretion in this cell line is regulated by dexamethasone but not by other hormones known to modulate PRL secretion in the pituitary or decidua. Dexamethasone caused a reduction of secretion rates to 30% of control values after 3 day paralleled by a decrease in hPRL mRNA levels, without affecting cell viability. Half-life determinations of hPRL mRNA in control and dexamethasone-treated cells revealed a reduction of t1/2 from 16 to 4 h. PRL secreted by IM-9-P3 cells did not control its own secretion in an autocrine loop, nor did it serve as an autocrine growth factor.