Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To study the effects of epithelial growth factor (EGF) on the growth of cultured uveal melanocytes and uveal melanoma cells. Methods:Human uveal melanocytes were isolated and cultured from donor eyes as previously reported (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 33:2210, 1993). We established continuous human choroidal melanoma cell line as previously reported (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 38:S802, 1997). Early passages of three cell lines of uveal melanocytes and three cell lines of uveal melanoma cells were plated separately into multi–well plates and cultured. EGF was added to the culture medium at various concentrations. Each group was performed in triplicate. Cells cultured with the culture medium without EGF were used as the controls. After 6 days, cells were detached and counted.Results: EGF significantly stimulated the growth of uveal melanoma cells in a dose dependent manner from 1–100 ng/ml. The cell number of EGF treated groups (100 ng/ml) was 152 ±18% of the controls (p <0.01). EGF did not have any significant effect on the growth of uveal melanocytes at the concentration from 1–100 ng/ml (p > 0.05). Conclusion: EGF stimulates the growth of uveal melanoma cells but not normal uveal melanocytes. This may be one of the factors that lead to unlimited growth of uveal melanoma cells in vivo.
Keywords: melanoma • melanocytes • growth factors/growth factor receptors