Molecular cloning and expression of human hepatocyte growth factor

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is the most potent mitogen for mature parenchymal hepatocytes in primary culture, and seems to be a hepatotrophic factor that acts as a trigger for liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy and liver injury. The partial purification and characterization of HGF have been reported. We have demonstrated that pure HGF from rat platelets is a new growth factor effective at concentrations as low as 1 ng ml-1. The effects of HGF and epidermal growth factor (EGF) are additive. The activity of HGF is not species-specific, although it does not stimulate growth in Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. HGF has a relative molecular mass (Mr) of 82,000 and is a heterodimer composed of a large alpha-subunit of Mr 69,000 and a small beta-subunit of Mr 34,000. Here we report the amino-acid sequence of human HGF determined by complementary DNA cloning and the expression of biologically active human HGF from COS-1 cells transfected with cloned cDNA. The nucleotide sequence of the human HGF cDNA reveals that both alpha- and beta-chains are contained in a single open reading frame coding for a pre-pro precursor protein of 728 amino acids.     

cDNA sequence and chromosomal localization of human platelet-derived growth factor A-chain and its expression in tumour cell lines

The amino-acid sequence of the precursor of the human tumour cell line-derived platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) A-chain has been deduced from complementary DNA clones and the gene localized to chromosome 7. The protein shows extensive homology to the PDGF B-chain precursor. Expression of the PDGF A-chain gene is independent of that of the PDGF B-chain in a number of human tumour cell lines, and secretion of a PDGF-like growth factor of relative molecular mass 31,000 correlates with expression of A- but not B-chain messenger RNA.     

Molecular cloning and expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor

During the development of the vertebrate nervous system, many neurons depend for survival on interactions with their target cells. Specific proteins are thought to be released by the target cells and to play an essential role in these interactions. So far, only one such protein, nerve growth factor, has been fully characterized. This has been possible because of the extraordinarily (and unexplained) large quantities of this protein in some adult tissues that are of no relevance to the developing nervous system. Whereas the dependency of many neurons on their target cells for normal development, and the restricted neuronal specificity of nerve growth factor have long suggested the existence of other such proteins, their low abundance has rendered their characterization difficult. Here we report the full primary structure of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This very rare protein is known to promote the survival of neuronal populations that are all located either in the central nervous system or directly connected with it. The messenger RNA for brain-derived neurotrophic factor was found predominantly in the central nervous system, and the sequence of the protein indicates that it is structurally related to nerve growth factor. These results establish that these two neurotrophic factors are related both functionally and structurally.     

Structure of the receptor for platelet-derived growth factor helps define a family of closely related growth factor receptors

The primary structure of the receptor for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), determined by means of cloning a cDNA that encodes the murine pre-PDGF receptor, is closely related to that of the v-kit oncogene product and the receptor for macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF-1). Common structural features include the presence of long sequences that interrupt the tyrosine-specific protein kinase domains of each molecule. The PDGF and CSF-1 receptors also share a characteristic distribution of extracellular cysteine residues. Ubiquitin is covalently bound to the purified PDGF receptor, the human gene for which is on chromosome 5.     

重组人血管内皮细胞生长因子的表达及活性研究

目的 :用基因工程的方法在大肠杆菌中诱导表达人血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF) ,分离纯化并检测其生物学活性 ,以研究其在药学领域潜在的药用价值。方法 :利用PCR技术扩增VEGF基因片段 ,克隆到pQE30表达载体中 ,转化E .coliM15菌株后用IPTG进行诱导表达。经裂解细胞、变性、复性和Ni-NTAagarose金属螯合柱层析等方法纯化得到VEGF。用鸡胚绒毛尿囊膜 (CAM)血管生成实验检测VEGF的生物活性。结果 :重组表达质粒在大肠杆菌中成功地表达了相对分子质量为 2 0 6 0 0的融合蛋白 ,它以不溶性的包涵体形式存在 ,占菌体总蛋白的 30 %左右。经分离纯化融合蛋白SDS -PAGE显示为单一区带。CAM结果表明给药组血管生成数 (2 1 7± 3 1、39 3± 2 8)与对照组 (15 4± 1 9、2 9 2± 4 2 )相比有明显增加 (P <0 0 5 )。结论 :利用原核表达系统得到血管内皮生长因子具有天然VEGF生物学活性 ,为进一步的应用研究奠定了基础。     

血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)与肝再生

血管内皮生长因子(vascularendothelialgrowthfactor,VEGF)能特异地直接作用于血管内皮细胞,刺激血管内皮细胞的分裂、增殖并诱导血管的形成.它通过与血管内皮细胞的受体结合发挥作用.肝受到各种损伤包括部分肝切除后,肝再生就得以启动.在肝再生过程中,VEGF对内皮细胞的生长增殖起有效促进作用,并且能诱导组织胶原酶、血纤维蛋白酶原的激活,增加血管的通透性,这对血管再生起着极其重要的作用.而血管再生是肝再生的一个重要组成部分,它不仅能给肝细胞提供血液支持,而且能促进肝脏结构的重构.因此VEGF在肝再生过程中具有重要的作用.     

人表皮生长因子(hEGF)基因的合成、鉴定及植物表达质粒的构建

用PCR方法合成了人表皮生长因子（hEGF）基因,构建了原核表达质粒p 20T-hEGF,研究了原核表达的重组蛋白hEGF的生物学活性,并构建了植物表达质粒,研究表明：无论是融合蛋白GST－hEGF或纯化的hEGF蛋白,都有相当高的生物活性,hEGF蛋白对Hela细胞的增殖有很好的促进作用,免疫小鼠亦能产生很高的免疫应答反应。     

Antibodies against platelet-derived growth factor inhibit acute transformation by simian sarcoma virus

A clue to the molecular mechanism of neoplastic transformation was provided by the finding of a near identity in amino-acid sequence between the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) B-chain and a region in the transforming protein, p28sis, of simian sarcoma virus (SSV), an agent that causes sarcomas and gliomas in experimental animals. This finding infers a direct link between the molecular biology of normal mitogenesis and oncogenesis since it suggests that the transforming activity of SSV is caused by a growth factor. Although PDGF agonist activity has been isolated from conditioned medium of SSV-transformed cells, it is not clear whether infection of responsive cells by SSV leads solely to autocrine stimulation of growth by a secreted PDGF-like factor or whether other, possibly intracellular, activities of p28sis or its processed products contribute to the transformation. To distinguish between these possibilities, we have studied the effect of anti-PDGF antibodies on acute SSV-transformation, and report here that these antibodies inhibit both proliferation and SSV-induced morphological changes in human diploid fibroblasts.     

Molecular cloning and expression of cDNA for human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a member of the CSF family of hormone-like glycoproteins that regulate haematopoietic cell proliferation and differentiation, and G-CSF almost exclusively stimulates the colony formation of granulocytes from committed precursor cells in semi-solid agar culture. Recently, Nomura et al. have established a human squamous carcinoma cell line (designated CHU-2) from a human oral cavity tumour which produces large quantities of CSF constitutively, and the CSF produced by CHU-2 cells has been purified to homogeneity from the conditioned medium. We have now determined the partial amino-acid sequence of the purified G-CSF protein, and by using oligonucleotides as probes, have isolated several clones containing G-CSF complementary DNA from the cDNA library prepared with messenger RNA from CHU-2 cells. The complete nucleotide sequences of two of these cDNAs were determined and the expression of the cDNA in monkey COS cells gave rise to a protein showing authentic G-CSF activity. Furthermore, Southern hybridization analysis of DNA from normal leukocytes and CHU-2 cells suggests that the human genome contains only one gene for G-CSF and that some rearrangement has occurred within one of the alleles of the G-CSF gene in CHU-2 cells.     

Molecular cloning, expression and regional distribution of rat ciliary neurotrophic factor

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) was originally characterized as a survival factor for chick ciliary neurons in vitro. More recently, it was shown to promote the survival of a variety of other neuronal cell types and to affect the differentiation of E7 chick sympathetic neurons by inhibiting their proliferation and by inducing the expression of vasoactive intestinal peptide immunoreactivity (VIP-IR). In cultures of dissociated sympathetic neurons from newborn rats, CNTF induces cholinergic differentiation as shown by increased levels of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). This increase is paralleled by a reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity. Moreover, CNTF promotes the differentiation of bipotential 02A progenitor cells to type-2-astrocytes in vitro. To help establish which, if any, of these functions CNTF exerts in vivo, it is necessary to determine its primary structure, cellular expression, developmental regulation and localization. The complementary DNA-deduced amino-acid sequence and subsequent expression of cDNA clones covering the entire coding region in HeLa-cells indicate that CNTF is a cytosolic protein. This, together with its regional distribution and its developmental expression, show that CNTF is not a target-derived neurotrophic factor. CNTF thus seems to exhibit neurotrophic and differentiation properties only after becoming available either by cellular lesion or by an unknown release mechanism.     

Antisera to a synthetic peptide of the sis viral oncogene product recognize human platelet-derived growth factor

It has recently been reported that the sequences of the sis oncogene of simian sarcoma virus (SSV) and of human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) are very similar, establishing the most solid link yet between the mitogenic actions of growth factors and the transforming proteins of retroviruses. To investigate molecular mechanisms of transformation I have produced antisera against synthetic peptides corresponding to segments of the protein sequences predicted by the nucleotide sequences of viral oncogenes. Applying this approach to the case of sis and PDGF, I report here the results of probing outdated human platelets with an antiserum directed against a synthetic peptide representing residues 139-155 of the predicted sequence of the SSV transforming protein, p28sis (ref. 3). I detected peptides of apparent molecular weights (MWs) 30,000 to 31,000 (30-31K) and 16-18K, which correspond to the apparent molecular weights of nonreduced and reduced PDGF. In addition, a peptide of MW 21,000 was detected in platelets and a protein of MW 56,000 was detected in SSV-infected marmoset cells.     

电刺激小脑顶核促脑缺血后血管内皮生长因子表达的意义

探讨电刺激小脑顶核(FNS)对局部脑缺血后血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)表达和毛细血管新生的影响．以线栓法制成大鼠右侧大脑中动脉梗塞模型(MCAO),大鼠随机分为假手术对照组、MCAO组、电刺激小脑顶(MCAO FNS)干预组,以免疫组织化学法检测VEGF、内皮细胞阳性表达及毛细血管记数,大脑中动脉梗塞后,缺血区神经元变性、坏死,VEGF、内皮细胞在半暗带有少量表达,毛细血管数较对照组增加,经电刺激小脑顶核干预后,VEGF、内皮细胞大量表达,毛细血管数目明显增加,有统计学差异．电刺激小脑顶核可通过促VEGF表达、内皮细胞增殖,从而促进毛细血管新生。     

CdTe量子点—钌配合物—DNA适配体探针检测血小板衍生生长因子

血小板衍生生长因子(PDGF-BB)是一种可用于肿瘤早期诊疗的肿瘤标志物,有必要发展新的方法用于PDGF的高灵敏、高选择性检测.本文采用基于巯基丙酸(MPA)修饰的CdTe量子点和钌配合物的适配体探针,建立了一种荧光检测PDGF-BB的方法.在优化条件下,利用适配体与PDGF-BB的特异性结合,该探针可实现对PDGF-BB的荧光检测.探针荧光强度与PDGF-BB浓度的线性范围为6～20 nmol/L,检测限为1.26 nmol/L.该方法为量子点—钌配合物—适配体复合体系用于生物活性分子的定量检测提供了新途径.     

Identification and characterization of a novel member of the nerve growth factor/brain-derived neurotrophic factor family

The survival and functional maintenance of vertebrate neurons critically depends on the availability of specific neurotrophic factors. So far, only two such factors, nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have been characterized and shown to have the typical features of secretory proteins. This characterization has been possible because of the extraordinarily large quantities of NGF in some adult tissues, and the virtually unlimited availability of brain tissue from which BDNF was isolated. Both NGF and BDNF promote the survival of distinct neuronal populations in vivo and are related in their primary structure, suggesting that they are members of a gene family. Although there is little doubt about the existence of other such proteins, their low abundance has rendered their identification and characterization difficult. Taking advantage of sequence identities between NGF and BDNF, we have now identified a third member of this family, which we name neurotrophin-3. Both the tissue distribution of the messenger RNA and the neuronal specificity of this secretory protein differ from those of NGF and BDNF. Alignment of the sequences of the three proteins reveals a remarkable number of amino acid identities, including all cysteine residues. This alignment also delineates four variable domains, each of 7-11 amino acids, indicating structural elements presumably involved in the neuronal specificity of these proteins.     

Deletion of vascular endothelial growth factor in myeloid cells accelerates tumorigenesis

Angiogenesis and the development of a vascular network are required for tumour progression, and they involve the release of angiogenic factors, including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A), from both malignant and stromal cell types. Infiltration by cells of the myeloid lineage is a hallmark of many tumours, and in many cases the macrophages in these infiltrates express VEGF-A. Here we show that the deletion of inflammatory-cell-derived VEGF-A attenuates the formation of a typical high-density vessel network, thus blocking the angiogenic switch in solid tumours in mice. Vasculature in tumours lacking myeloid-cell-derived VEGF-A was less tortuous, with increased pericyte coverage and decreased vessel length, indicating vascular normalization. In addition, loss of myeloid-derived VEGF-A decreases the phosphorylation of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) in tumours, even though overall VEGF-A levels in the tumours are unaffected. However, deletion of myeloid-cell VEGF-A resulted in an accelerated tumour progression in multiple subcutaneous isograft models and an autochthonous transgenic model of mammary tumorigenesis, with less overall tumour cell death and decreased tumour hypoxia. Furthermore, loss of myeloid-cell VEGF-A increased the susceptibility of tumours to chemotherapeutic cytotoxicity. This shows that myeloid-derived VEGF-A is essential for the tumorigenic alteration of vasculature and signalling to VEGFR2, and that these changes act to retard, not promote, tumour progression.