Analysis of cytokine receptor messenger RNA expression in human glioblastoma cells and normal astrocytes by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction

✓ To elucidate which cytokine receptors may be expressed by human glioblastoma and normal astrocytic cells, the presence of messenger ribonucleic acid (RNA) for a number of cytokine receptors was examined in 16 glioblastoma cell lines and adult and fetal astrocytes. A complementary deoxyribonucleic acid copy of total RNA was synthesized and amplified with specific primers using the polymerase chain reaction method. The receptors studied were interleukin (IL)-1 receptor type I (IL-1RI) and type II (IL-1RII), p75 and p55 tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptors (p75TNFR and p55TNFR), interferon (IFN)-α/β and -γ receptors (IFN-α/βR and IFN-γR), granulocyte-macrophage (GM) colony-stimulating factors receptor α subunit (GM-CSFR), G-CSF receptor (G-CSFR), M-CSF receptor (c-fms, M-CSFR), stem cell factor receptor (c-kit, SCFR), IL-6 receptor (IL-6R), and IL-8 receptor (IL-8R). Transcripts for IL-1RI, p55TNFR, IFN-α/βR, and IFN-γR were present in all cell lines. The presence of IL-1RII, p75TNFR, GM-CSFR, M-CSFR, SCF...