Volume 272, Number 38,
Issue of September 19, 1997
pp. 23498-23502
©1997 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein Enhances Insulin-like Growth
Factor-I Expression by Fetal Rat Dermal Fibroblasts
(Received for publication, June 11, 1997)
Joseph H.
Shin
,
Changhua
Ji
,
Sandra
Casinghino
,
Thomas L.
McCarthy
and
Michael
Centrella
From the Section of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale
University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
06520-8041
Interactions between cells of differing embryonic
origins comprise a common theme during tissue development and repair.
Often, communication between them can be mediated by soluble growth
mediators and in some cases is restricted in focus. That is, some cells respond to, but do not produce, mediators expressed by other cells within the tissue. Because keratinocytes respond to but do not express
insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), another skin cell population, the
dermal fibroblast, may supply this factor. However, keratinocytes
express, but do not respond to parathyroid hormone related protein
(PTHrp), which increases cAMP production by dermal fibroblasts. Based
on earlier results where inducers of cAMP increase local IGF-I
expression in skeletal tissue, we postulated that PTHrp might induce
local IGF-I by dermal fibroblasts and provide a source of this factor
for keratinocyte activity. Our studies reveal that IGF-I mRNA and
protein levels increase in response to PTHrp in vitro, and
that this effect is replicated by inducers of cAMP, but not by
activators of protein kinase C. Consequently, these factors appear to
comprise a paracrine loop within the skin, permitting focused but
restricted IGF-I expression to support skin growth, remodeling, or
repair.