Transforming growth factor-alpha and -beta are potent and effective inhibitors of GH4 pituitary tumor cell...

The mechanisms that restrict cell proliferation play an important regulatory role in differentiation and tumorigenesis. The growth of PRL-secreting cells of the anterior pituitary is known to be highly estrogen dependent; however, estrogen may act indirectly via growth regulatory polypeptides. We have used the GH4C1 rat pituitary cell line to investigate the action of two classes of growth regulatory polypeptides, transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) and TGF beta. TGF alpha and TGF beta each inhibit GH4 cell proliferation, as measured by cell number and [3H]thymidine incorporation, and given together arrest GH4 cell proliferation. The growth inhibitory action of TGF alpha is concentration dependent (IC50 = 100 pM) and saturable. Activin-A, a TGF beta-related polypeptide, also inhibits proliferation, but is less effective than TGF beta. TGF alpha and TGF beta each alter GH4 cell cycle distribution by decreasing in the percentage of S phase cells (74% and 34%, respectively) and increasing proportionally G0-G1 phase cells. The growth inhibitory action of TGF alpha differs from that of TGF beta in that TGF alpha also causes a temporary accumulation of cells in G2-M phases. We next initiated experiments to evaluate the role of protein kinase-C in the growth inhibitory actions of TGF alpha and TGF beta. The alpha- and beta-isoforms of protein kinase-C were down-regulated by pretreatment with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, yet TGF alpha and TGF beta still substantially inhibited GH4 cell proliferation. We next compared the actions of TGF alpha and TGF beta on two other well characterized prolonged GH4 responses. TGF alpha and TGF beta each increased GH4 cell adhesion, but differed in their effects on PRL production. This indicates that TGF alpha and TGF beta activate different signaling pathways in GH4 cells. Activin-A acted like TGF beta by enhancing cell-substratum adhesion and inhibiting PRL production, consistent with an interaction at a common receptor site. Taken together these results identify biological functions for TGF alpha, TGF beta, and activin-A on PRL cells and open the possibility that they may represent the direct in vivo mediators of estrogen action to regulate the growth of PRL cells in the anterior pituitary gland.