Stimulation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen production by tumor necrosis factor-α in human cervical carcinoma cells

Effects of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on the production of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC antigen) were studied in SKG-III a cells, a cell line derived from cervical cancer. TNF-α significantly (p＜0.01) enhanced the release and total production of antigen. The immunohistochemical studied using a specific antibody against SCC antigen also demonstrated that the intensity of staining was increased in the TNF-α treated cells. However, it was also clear that the production of this protein was hetrogenous among the cell after rTNF-α treatment. This was proved by stimulating two sublines (A-5 and B-5 cells) of SKG-III a cells by rTNF-α. Both cell lines responded to rTNF-α release SCC antigen but B-5 cells released greater amounts of SCC antigen than A-5 cells. Scatchard analysis indicated that the amounts of TNF-α receptor in these two cell lines would be the same. These results indicated that the host-environmental factors (e.g., TNF-α) would modify the production of SCC antigen in squamous cell carcinoma, which should be taken into consideration for evaluationg the circulationg marler values in the clinical oractice.