Human breast cancer cells synthesize and secrete an EGF-like immunoreactive factor in culture.

A human breast cancer cell line, strain MCF-7, in culture synthesized and secreted a large amount of a polypeptide (designated as MCF-7 EGF) immunologically related to human epidermal growth factor (hEGF). The molecular weight of MCF-7 EGF estimated by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 was similar to that of hEGF from human urine. On isoelectric focusing analysis, MCF-7 EGF gave a major peak at pH 4.6 and a minor peak at pH 5.0. In our enzyme immunoassay system, however, the dose-response curve of MCF-7 EGF did not show good parallelism with that of standard hEGF. From these results, it is suggested that MCF-7 cells synthesize and secrete a polypeptide immunologically related to hEGF into the culture medium.