To characterize epidermal growth factor-related transforming growth factors in the urine of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, gel filtration with Bio-Gel P-30 was performed in seven hepatocellular carcinoma patients and seven sex-matched and agematched healthy controls. Distinct profiles of soft agar growth assay in the hepatocellular carcinoma patients and the normal controls were seen. Three peaks (A, B and C) in the urine were examined. Peak C in most hepatocellular carcinoma patients was higher than that in healthy controls. Similar profiles were detected with epidermal growth factor radioreceptor assay and cellular DNA synthesis assay. This result might indicate that transforming growth factors with low molecular weight were found in the urine of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. An exceptional HCC patient had an additional peak (A) that corresponded to the high molecular weight protein. We concluded that there were transforming growth factors with functional activity in the urine of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. (HEPATOLOGY 1991; 13: 11 12-1 116.) HCC, one of the most prevalent cancers in Taiwan (11, is associated with HBV infection (2-4). HBV is one kind of hepadnavirus. It shares many features with retrovirus, which is intimately associated with oncogenes (5). In view of recent findings of oncogene expression in certain human cancers (6, 7) including HCC (81, several studies had been performed on growth factors, some of which were related to oncogene products, in an effort to explain the mechanism for growth control in cancer cells (9-1 1).
Transforming growth factors (TGFs) (12-14) are polypeptides produced by cancer cells that are capable of reversibly stimulating nontransformed cells to grow as colonies in soft agar ("anchorage-independent growth").