A physico-chemical comparison of the monocyte-derived fibroblast growth factor and the tumour necrosis factor.

The chromatographic characteristics of the human monocyte-derived growth stimulatory activity towards diploid FS-4 human fibroblasts has been studied. The fibroblast growth stimulatory factor had an apparent isoelectric point of 5.8 as determined by chromatofocusing, and a molecular weight in the range 70,000-30,000 as determined by gel filtration. The growth stimulatory factor eluted together with the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) upon cation exchange chromatography, chromatofocusing and gel filtration. Moreover, the fibroblast growth stimulatory activity in crude monocyte supernatants as well as the activity in the gel filtration column fractions was neutralized by antiserum raised against recombinant TNF (rTNF). The results indicate that the monocyte-derived fibroblast growth stimulatory activity is largely due to TNF.