Hepatocyte growth factor stimulates extensive development of branching duct-like structures by cloned mammary gland epithelial cells.

Although epithelial-mesenchymal (stromal) interactions are thought to play an important role in embryonic and postnatal development of the mammary gland, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. To address this issue, we assessed the effect of fibroblast-derived diffusible factors on the growth and morphogenetic properties of a clonally derived subpopulation (clone TAC-2) of normal murine mammary gland (NMuMG) epithelial cells embedded in collagen gels. Under control conditions, TAC-2 mammary gland epithelial cells suspended within collagen gels formed either irregularly shaped cell aggregates or short branching cord-like structures. Addition of conditioned medium from Swiss 3T3 or MRC-5 fibroblasts dramatically stimulated cord formation by TAC-2 cells, resulting in the development of an extensive, highly arborized system of duct-like structures, which in appropriate sections were seen to contain a central lumen. The effect of fibroblast conditioned medium was completely abrogated by antibodies against hepatocyte growth factor (also known as scatter factor), a fibroblast-derived polypeptide that we have previously shown induces tubulogenesis by Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells. Addition of exogenous recombinant human hepatocyte growth factor to collagen gel cultures of TAC-2 cells mimicked the tubulogenic activity of fibroblast conditioned medium by stimulating formation of branching duct-like structures in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximal 77-fold increase in cord length at 20 ng/ml. The effect of either fibroblast conditioned medium or hepatocyte growth factor was markedly potentiated by the simultaneous addition of hydrocortisone (1 microgram/ml), which also enhanced lumen formation. These results demonstrate that hepatocyte growth factor promotes the formation of branching duct-like structures by mammary gland epithelial cells in vitro, and suggest that it may act as a mediator of the inducing effect of mesenchyme (or stroma) on mammary gland development.