Autocrine/paracrine actions of growth hormone in human melanoma cell lines

Ashiya Buckels; Yue Zhang; Jing Jiang; Mohammad Athar; Farrukh Afaq; Lalita Shevde-Samant; Stuart J Frank

doi:10.1016/j.bbrep.2019.100716

Autocrine/paracrine actions of growth hormone in human melanoma cell lines

Biochem Biophys Rep. 2019 Dec 18:21:100716. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2019.100716. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Authors

Ashiya Buckels¹, Yue Zhang¹, Jing Jiang¹, Mohammad Athar², Farrukh Afaq², Lalita Shevde-Samant^{3

4}, Stuart J Frank^{1

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
² Department of Dermatology and Skin Diseases Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
³ Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁴ Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁵ Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
⁶ Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA.

Abstract

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer. Its aggressiveness is most commonly attributed to ERK pathway mutations leading to constitutive signaling. Though initial tumor regression results from targeting this pathway, resistance often emerges. Interestingly, interrogation of the NCI-60 database indicates high growth hormone receptor (GHR) expression in melanoma cell lines. To further characterize melanoma, we tested responsiveness to human growth hormone (GH). GH treatment resulted in GHR signaling and increased invasion and migration, which was inhibited by a GHR monoclonal antibody (mAb) antagonist in WM35, SK-MEL 5, SK-MEL 28 and SK-MEL 119 cell lines. We also detected GH in the conditioned medium (CM) of human melanoma cell lines. GHR, JAK2 and STAT5 were basally phosphorylated in these cell lines, consistent with autocrine/paracrine GH production. Together, our results suggest that melanomas are enriched in GHR and produce GH that acts in an autocrine/paracrine manner. We suggest that GHR may constitute a therapeutic target in melanoma.

Keywords: Autocrine; Growth hormone (GH); Growth hormone receptor (GHR); Melanoma; Paracrine.

Abstract

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