Abstract
To elucidate the distribution and nature of EGF in human body fluids, we measured immunoreactive EGF (IR-EGF) by a RIA or a (more sensitive) time-resolved immunofluorometric assay, and evaluated its size heterogeneity by size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography. The mean concentration was 80ng/ml in urine, 65ng/ml in milk, 50ng/ml in seminal plasma, 25ng/ml in armpit sweat, 1.0 ng/ml in breast sweat, 3ng/ml in saliva, 1.5ng/ ml in tears, and 0.3ng/ml in gastric juice and third trimester amniotic fluid. All the fluids contained the standard size 6.2 kilodalton (6.2K) IR-EGF molecule. It was the only component present in armpit sweat and gastric juice. Additionally, we observed the total of 5 different molecular sizes of IR-EGF, ranging in approximate molecular weight from 400K to 15K. The standard form made up >90% of the total IR-EGF in all the fluids except the amniotic fluid, where its proportion was 71%. A >400K component was present in milk and amniotic fluid, a 300K component in urine and seminal plasma, a 200K component in breast sweat, a 80K component in seminal plasma, saliva and tears and a 15K component in urine, seminal plasma, and the amniotic fluid. It remains to be studied whether the larger than standard forms of IR-EGF represent different cleavage products of a common precursor, different tissue specific products, aggregates of EGF, EGF bound to different proteins, or several of these.
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Pesonen, K., Viinikka, L., Mattila, A. et al. EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR (ECF) IN HUMAN BODY FLUIDS. Pediatr Res 20, 1184 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00061
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00061