Identification of a novel variant hepatocyte growth factor secreted by spleen-derived stromal cells

Stromal cells can interact with parenchymal cells by secreting various cytokines to affect the growth, differentiation or movement of the latter. Here we report the identification and characterization of a novel variant hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) from the conditioned medium of stromal cells derived from mouse spleen. Compared to human HGF, it has much lower heparin-binding activity and lacks the beta-chain. Its molecular weight, 70 kDa, is very close to that of the alpha-chain of HGF. Human HGF homologue was not found in the conditioned medium. The conditioned medium of stromal cells, like recombinant HGF, could inhibit the growth of rat hepatoma cells. The inhibitory activity was presumably attributed to this novel HGF because the inhibitory activity, as the existence of this novel HGF, was confined to the identical fractions after heparin-column chromatography. Furthermore, this activity could be specifically abrogated by neutralizing anti-HGF antibodies.