Epidermal and hepatocyte growth factors stimulate chemotaxis in an intestinal epithelial cell line

The migration of intestinalcells is important in the development and maintenance of normalepithelium, in a process that may be regulated by growth factors andcytokines. Although a number of growth factor receptors are expressedby intestinal cells, little progress has been made toward assignment offunctional roles for these ligand-receptor systems. This study comparesseveral growth factors and cytokines for their chemoattraction of the mouse small intestinal epithelial cell line. Epidermal and hepatocyte growth factors stimulated a rapid 30-fold chemotaxis of cells withdelayed threefold migration toward transforming growth factor-1. Despite stimulating proliferation, keratinocyte, fibroblast, or insulin-like growth factors did not stimulate directed migration. Chemotaxis required tyrosine kinase and phosphatidylinositolphospholipase C activities but not protein kinase C ormitogen-activated protein kinase activity. These findings suggest thatthe repertoire of growth factors capable of regulating directedintestinal epithelial cell migration is limited and that a divergenceexists in the signal transduction pathways for directed vs. nondirected migration.