Cell growth

About: Cell growth is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 104237 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3751303 citations. The topic is also known as: GO:0016049 & cellular growth.

Effects of the pineal hormone melatonin on the proliferation and morphological characteristics of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) in culture.

Abstract: Since melatonin, the major hormone of the pineal gland, has been shown to inhibit the growth of mammary tumors in animal models of human breast cancer, we examined the hypothesis that this indoleamine has the potential to inhibit breast cancer growth by directly inhibiting cell proliferation as exemplified by the growth of the estrogen-responsive human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 in culture. Concentrations of melatonin (10(-9) M; 10(-11) M), corresponding to the physiological levels present in human blood during the evening hours, significantly inhibited (P less than 0.001) cell proliferation by as much as 60% to 78% as measured by either DNA content or hemocytometer cell counts. Melatonin's inhibitory effect was reversible since the logarithmic growth of MCF-7 cells was restored after melatonin-containing medium was replaced with fresh medium lacking melatonin. Not only was the inhibitory effect of melatonin absent at either pharmacological (10(-7) M; 10(-5) M) or subphysiological (10(-15) M; 10(-13) M) concentrations, but melatonin also failed to inhibit the proliferation of either human foreskin fibroblasts or the estrogen receptor-positive human endometrial cancer cell line RL95-2. Both transmission and scanning electron microscopy revealed several morphological changes that correlated with melatonin's inhibition of cell growth. After just 4 days of exposure to melatonin, MCF-7 cells exhibited reduced numbers of surface microvilli, nuclear swelling, cytoplasmic and ribosomal shedding, disruption of mitochondrial cristae, vesiculation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and an increase in the numbers of autophagic vacuoles. These results support the hypothesis that melatonin, at physiological concentrations, exerts a direct but reversible, antiproliferative effect on MCF-7 cell growth in culture. This antiproliferative effect is associated with striking changes in the ultrastructural features of these cells suggestive of a sublethal but reversible cellular injury.

Apoptosis (the 1992 Frank Rose Memorial Lecture)

Abstract: Apoptosis is a mode of cell death with characteristic structural features. These appear to result from a set of discrete cellular events that are regulated by gene expression. Oncogenesis and oncosuppressor genes are involved in this regulation. The role of c-myc is of particular interest, as it can act as a bivalent regulator, determining either cell proliferation or apoptosis, depending on whether free movement around the cell cycle is supported (by growth factors) or is limited by growth factor deprivation or treatment with other cycle-blocking agents. In vivo, c-myc expression may be associated with a 'high-turnover' state in which cell proliferation and apoptosis co-exist. Certain other oncogenes (e.g. ras, bcl-2) rescue cells from susceptibility to apoptosis and so convert this high-turnover state into rapid population expansion. One role of the oncosuppressor gene p53 may be to initiate apoptosis by causing G 1/S arrest in cells expressing c-myc. Some aspects of resistance and sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents can be explained on the basis of movement between the population-expansion and the high-turnover states, perhaps through modulation of the expression of these and other genes.

Notch Signaling Induces Cell Cycle Arrest in Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Abstract: Among the various forms of human lung cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) exhibits a characteristic neuroendocrine (NE) phenotype. Neural and NE differentiation in SCLC depend, in part, on the action of the basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor human achaete-scute homologue-1 (hASH1). In nervous system development, the Notch signaling pathway is a critical negative regulator of bHLH factors, including hASH1, controlling cell fate commitment and differentiation. To characterize Notch pathway function in SCLC, we explored the consequences of constitutively active Notch signaling in cultured SCLC cells. Recombinant adenoviruses were used to overexpress active forms of Notch1, Notch2, or the Notch effector protein human hairy enhancer of split-1 (HES1) in DMS53 and NCI-H209 SCLC cells. Notch proteins, but not HES1 or control adenoviruses, caused a profound growth arrest, associated with a G 1 cell cycle block. We found up-regulation of p21 waf1/cip1 and p27 kip1 in concert with the cell cycle changes. Active Notch proteins also led to dramatic reduction in hASH1 expression, as well as marked activation of phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1 and ERK2, findings that have been shown to be associated with cell cycle arrest in SCLC cells. These data suggest that the previously described function of Notch proteins as proto-oncogenes is highly context-dependent. Notch activation, in the setting of a highly proliferative hASH1-dependent NE neoplasm, can be associated with growth arrest and apparent reduction in neoplastic potential.

p150Ship, a signal transduction molecule with inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatase activity.

Abstract: The production, survival, and function of monocytes and macrophages is regulated by the macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF or CSF-1) through its tyrosine kinase receptor Fms. Binding of M-CSF to Fms induces the tyrosine phosphorylation and association of a 150-kD protein with the phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domain of Shc. We have cloned p150 using a modified yeast two-hybrid screen. p150 contains one SH2 domain, two potential PTB-binding sites, an ATP/GTP-binding domain, several potential SH3-binding sites, and a domain with homology to inositol polyphosphate-5-phosphatases. p150 antibodies detect this protein in FDC-P1 myeloid cells, but the same protein is not detectable in fibroblasts. The antibodies immunoprecipitate a 150-kD protein from quiescent or M-CSF-stimulated FDC-P1 cells that hydrolyzes PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, to PtdIns(3,4)P2. This activity is observed in Shc immunoprecipitates only after M-CSF stimulation. Retroviral expression of p15O in FD-Fms cells results in strong inhibition of cell growth in M-CSF and a lesser inhibition in IL-3. Ectopic expression of p150 in fibroblasts does not inhibit growth. This novel protein, p150(ship) (SH2-containing inositol phosphatase), identifies a component of a new growth factor-receptor signaling pathway in hematopoietic cells.

Regulation of Thyroid Cell Proliferation by TSH and Other Factors: A Critical Evaluation of in Vitro Models

Abstract: TSH via cAMP, and various growth factors, in cooperation with insulin or IGF-I stimulate cell cycle progression and proliferation in various thyrocyte culture systems, including rat thyroid cell lines (FRTL-5, WRT, PC Cl3) and primary cultures of rat, dog, sheep and human thyroid. The available data on cell signaling cascades, cell cycle kinetics, and cell cycle-regulatory proteins are thoroughly and critically reviewed in these experimental systems. In most FRTL-5 cells, TSH (cAMP) merely acts as a priming/competence factor amplifying PI3K and MAPK pathway activation and DNA synthesis elicited by insulin/IGF-I. In WRT cells, TSH and insulin/IGF-I can independently activate Ras and PI3K pathways and DNA synthesis. In dog thyroid primary cultures, TSH (cAMP) does not activate Ras and PI3K, and cAMP must be continuously elevated by TSH to directly control the progression through G(1) phase. This effect is exerted, at least in part, via the cAMP-dependent activation of the required cyclin D3, itself synthesized in response to insulin/IGF-I. This and other discrepancies show that the mechanistic logics of cell cycle stimulation by cAMP profoundly diverge in these different in vitro models of the same cell. Therefore, although these different thyrocyte systems constitute interesting models of the wide diversity of possible mechanisms of cAMP-dependent proliferation in various cell types, extrapolation of in vitro mechanistic data to TSH-dependent goitrogenesis in man can only be accepted in the cases where independent validation is provided.