The BE (2)-M17 neuroblastoma cell line synthesizes and secretes corticotropin-releasing factor

The BE (2)-M17 human neuroblastoma has previously been shown to express corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mRNA following retinoic acid treatment. It is demonstrated in this report that both cell extracts and cell incubation medium of retinoic acid-treated BE (2)-M17 cells were shown to contain CRF-like immunoreactivity (CRF-LI) by RIA. CRF-LI secretion and content were also dose-dependently increased by forskolin. In addition, cell extracts were applied to a C18 Vydac column and peak CRF-LI from the collected fractions was shown to coincide in time of elution with peak immunoreactivity seen with oxidized synthetic CRF standard. Thus, in containing the CRF peptide, the BE (2)-M17 cells are useful models for further study of CRF cellular and genetic regulation.