TY  - EJOU
AU  - Wolańska, Małgorzata 
AU  - Bańkowski, Edward 

TI  - An accumulation of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in human myometrium and uterine leiomyomas in various stages of tumour growth
T2  - European Cytokine Network

PY  - 2004
VL  - 15
IS  - 4
SN  - 1952-4005

AB  - It is commonly thought that uterine leiomyomas result from hyperstimulation of myometrium by
ovarian hormones. Some observations suggest that cytokines and growth factors are intermediate elements
through which the ovarian hormones may exert their growth-stimulatory effects on leiomyomas. Human
myometrium and uterine leiomyomas of various weights were homogenised and extracted with 1M acetic acid or
with 0.05M Tris/HCl, pH 7.6. The extracts were assayed for IGF-I using the ELISA technique. It was found that
0.05 M Tris/HCl extracts contained several times more IGF-I than the 1M acetic acid extracts. Nanogram amounts
of IGF-I were found in both control myometrium and in leiomyomas. It was found that the amounts of IGF-I
extracted from leiomyomas were distinctly higher in comparison to control myometrium and they increased as a
function of tumour growth. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by Western immunoblotting, demon-strated
that IGF-I in acidic and alkaline extracts exists as stable complexes, probably with extracellular matrix
components. No free IGF-I was detected. Furthermore, it was found that some components of both the acidic and
alkaline extracts were able to bind exogenous <sup>125</sup>
I-labeled IGF-I. It is suggested that IGF-I plays an important role
both in myometrium biology and in the growth of uterine leiomyomas.
KW  - IGF-I
KW  -  human myometrium
KW  -  uterine leiomyoma
KW  -  extracellular matrix
KW  -  IGF- binding

DO  -