Antiproliferative effects of heparin on normal and transformed NIH/3T3 fibroblasts

We studied the effect of heparin on proliferation and signalling in normal NIH/3T3 fibroblasts, and in cells transformed by different oncogenes. Heparin inhibited the proliferation of normal as well as of v-sis and v-erbB transformed fibroblasts in the presence of serum, but failed to inhibit v-erbB-driven proliferation in serum-starved cultures; under these conditions, heparin inhibited by approximately 50% the proliferation of normal and v-sis- transformed cells. Heparin also inhibited PDGF-induced cell proliferation and inositol lipid turnover in v-sis transformants, but it did not affect PDGF mitogenic signalling in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts.