Expression of bone morphogenetic proteins of human neoplastic epithelial cells

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are crucial factors of osteogenesis. We investigated the expressions of BMP subtypes in human salivary adenocarcinoma cell line (HSG-S8), tongue squamous cell (HSC-4) and gingival squamous cell (Ca9-22) carcinoma cell lines, gastric poorly differentiated adenocacinoma cell (MNK45) and signet ring cell (KATOIII) carcinoma cell lines, rectal adenocarcinoma (RCM-1, RCM-2, and RCM-3), and thyroid (8505C) and bladder (T24) carcinoma cell lines by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RT-PCR disclosed that BMP-1 was expressed in all cell lines examined, and BMP-2 was amplified in almost all cells except MKN45. Two squamous cell carcinomas, HSC-4 and Ca9-22, and KATOIII expressed only BMP-1 and BMP-2. MKN45 did not express BMP-2, but expressed BMP-7 and weakly BMP-4 and BMP-5. In addition to the expression of BMP-1 and BMP-2, three rectal adenocarcinoma cell lines commonly expressed BMP-7, and HSG-S8 expressed BMP-6. These findings indicated that the neoplastic epithelial cells possessed a rather great potency to express BMP mRNAs. On the other hand, among these carcinoma cells, HSG-S8 solely induced bone in nude mouse tumors, and HSC-4 and KATOIII contained many calcified masses in tumors while the rest did not induce either.