Promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, produces human hepatocyte growth factor

The human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, stimulated with PMA, produced human HGF-like immunoreactivity (HL-60 HGF), which was detected with human HGF-specific ELISA. The purified HL-60 HGF was indistinguishable from human HGF in the plasma of patients with fulminant hepatic failure by studies of subunit constitution and amino acid composition. The HL-60 HGF mRNA corresponded to 6 kb, which was consistent with previous reported data in rat and human HGF mRNA, was detected in stimulated HL-60, by northern hybridization analysis using human HGF cDNA probe. These findings indicated that HL-60 HGF was identical to, or closely resembled, human plasma HGF. The HL-60 cell is an attractive model for studies of HGF-producing mechanisms, the manner of secretion and the nature of induction signals.