Evidence for the Presence of Keratinocyte Growth Factor (KGF) in Human Ovarian Follicles

• Published in: ENDOCRINE JOURNAL Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 161 - 166
• Main Authors: OSUGA, YUTAKA, KOGA, KAORI, TSUTSUMI, OSAMU, YANO, TETSU, KUGU, KOJI, MOMOEDA, MIKIO, OKAGAKI, RYUGO, SUENAGA, AKIHIKO, FUJIWARA, TOSHIHIRO, FUJIMOTO, AKIHISA, MATSUMI, HIROTAKA, HIROI, HISAHIKO, TAKETANI, YUJI
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japan The Japan Endocrine Society 2001
• Subjects: Adult; Blotting, Western; Cells, Cultured; Chorionic Gonadotropin - analysis; Chorionic Gonadotropin - pharmacology; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Estradiol - analysis; Female; Fertilization in Vitro; Fibroblast Growth Factor 7; Fibroblast Growth Factors - analysis; Fibroblast Growth Factors - blood; Follicular fluid; Follicular Fluid - chemistry; Glycoside Hydrolases - pharmacology; Granulosa Cells - drug effects; Granulosa Cells - metabolism; Humans; Infertility - therapy; IVF-ET; Keratinocyte growth factor; Ovarian Follicle - chemistry; Ovary; Progesterone - analysis; Progesterone - biosynthesis; Testosterone - analysis
• ISSN: 0918-8959; 1348-4540
• DOI: 10.1507/endocrj.48.161

The presence of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in human follicular fluid (FF) was investigated in a total of 145 FFs obtained during oocyte retrieval for in vitro fertilization (IVF) from 29 patients with no apparent endocrine disorders. The concentrations of KGF, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in FF were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. FF samples contained relatively higher amounts of KGF (2194±87pg/ml), whereas its concentrations in serum were below assay limit (<31.2pg/ml). Concentrations of KGF in FF were positively correlated with both progesterone (r=0.311, p<0.0005) and testosterone (r=0.230, p<0.01) concentrations in FF. However, KGF concentrations were not ignificantly correlated with estradiol and hCG concentrations. KGF in FF was detected as a broad band (26-29kD) by immunoblotting, the size being reduced by 7kD after N-glycosidase treatment. In an in vitro experiment, KGF suppressed the basal and hCG-stimulated progesterone production by cultured human luteinized granulosa cells. In summary, we demonstrated the presence of KGF in human ovarian follicles, suggesting its possible role as a local factor in regulating human ovarian functions.