Effect of Epidermal Growth Factor on Cytokeratin 19 mRNA of HSC-3 cells

Abstract

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is produced in the human salivary glands and excreted in human saliva. Recently, EGF has attracted interest owing to its association with carcinoma. Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) is an especially intriguing member of the CK intermediate filament a superfamily. CK 19 tends to reflect the state of differetiation of tumors. For example, the expression of CK 19 is more intense in poorly differentiated lesions than in other lesions. First, we confirmed that the oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line HSC-3 expressed CK 19 mRNA by Northern blot analysis. Secondly, we examined the relationship between CK 19 and EGF in HSC-3 cells. Morphology and expression of CK 19 mRNA were observed in the cells with and without EGF. The results suggest that EGF may modulate the morphology and expression of CK 19 nRNA of HSC-3 cells.