Binding properties of biotinylated epidermal growth factor to its receptor on cultured cells and tissue sections

A biotinylated derivative of murine epidermal growth factor (EGF) was prepared by covalent attachment of the terminal amino group of EGF to N-biotinyl-epsilon-aminocaproyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide. The stoichiometry of biotin incorporation was in the range of one biotin moiety per EGF molecule. The biotinylated EGF (biotinyl-epsilon-caproyl-EGF, BioEGF) binds to EGF receptors on intact Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells with an affinity similar to that of native EGF and displays the same mitogenic activity as EGF in a soft agar test system with normal rat kidney (NRK) cells. BioEGF was visualized on cultured cells and tissue sections of a head and neck tumour by commercial streptavidin/avidin detection systems. Cytochemical analyses of certain tumour forms can be easily performed using the BioEGF probe.