BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Caf1 secretion pathway of Yersinia pestis is one of the most well-characterized export machineries. To facilitate the secretion of human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) in Escherichia coli, a DNA fragment containing the synthetic gene for hEGF was joined to a sequence encoding the signal peptide of Yersinia pestis Caf1 protein. METHODS The gene for hEGF was synthesiz...

Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) can stimulate the division of various cell types and has potential clinical applications. However, the high expression of active hEGF in Escherichia coli has not been successful, as the protein contains three intra-molecular disulfide bonds that are difficult to form correctly in the bacterial intracellular environment. To solve this problem, we fused the hE...

Immunohistochemical study showed selective localisation of human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) to the synovial lining layer. Although the synovial lining layer of the rheumatoid, osteoarthritic, and traumatic joints was hEGF positive, hEGF staining was especially dense at the rheumatoid synovial lining layer; the staining increasing linearly according to the degree of stratification of the lin...

Urinary protein obtained from a patient with a highly malignant brain tumor (astrocytoma, grade IV) was adsorbed to trimethylsilyl controlled-pore glass beads and selectively eluted with acetonitrile to yield a high molecular weight (HMW) human transforming growth factor (hTGF). This HMW hTGF promoted clonogenic cell growth in soft agar and competed for membrane receptors with mouse epidermal g...

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a polypeptide hormone originally discovered in the mouse submaxillary gland, stimulates growth in a variety of tissues in several species. This hormone has recently been identified in human urine. Herein, radioimmunoassay (RIA) for human EGF (hEGF) has been developed, using human recombinant EGF as reference standard and radioiodinated tracer and antibodies raised...

This study was carried out to express human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) in Pichia pastoris GS115. For this aim, the hEGF gene was cloned into the pPIC9K expression vector, and then integrated into P. pastoris by electroporation. ELISA-based assay showed that the amount of hEGF secreted into the medium can be affected by the fermentation conditions especially by culture medium, pH and tempera...

Effects of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) on survival of primary cultured neurons from various regions of fetal rat brain were compared with those of recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (hbFGF). Addition of hEGF (0.001-10 ng/ml) in chemically-defined serum-free medium enhanced significantly the survival of cultured neurons from all regions tested, i.e., cerebral c...

The effect of biosynthetic human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) was investigated on a 10-mm diameter corneal epithelial defect model in rabbits. Topical application of over 10 micrograms/ml of hEGF five times a day significantly enhanced the epithelial healing rate, in a dose-dependent manner. The maximum healing rate was observed in eyes treated with 20 micrograms/ml of hEGF (1.59 +/- 0.26 mm2...

Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) has previously been isolated from urine and probably is identical to human beta-urogastrone (hUG). Immunoreactive hEGF/UG has been found in the plasma of normal subjects. In this study, using immunoaffinity chromatography to extract hEGF/UG from plasma, we found that immunoreactive hEGF/UG in blood was associated with blood platelets. It was present in plate...