Chromatin and cell surface receptors mediate melanoma cell growth response to nerve growth factor

Growth response to nerve growth factor (NGF) was tested in the primary melanoma cell line WM 164, which expressed a low level of NGF cell‐surface receptor, and in WM 164 cells transfected with cDNA for the cell‐surface receptor (TrWM 164 cells), which expressed a higher level of the cell‐surface receptor. Neither cell line expressed the chromatin receptor for NGF or internalized NGF. Both cell lines were stimulated to growth by NGF. After 10 d of exposure to NGF, a 230 000 M r chromatin protein (receptor) was induced in both cell lines; as a result, NGF bound to the chromatin, and ribosomal RNA synthesis and cell proliferation were inhibited. We suggest that the cell‐surface and chromatin receptors each mediate a different function of NGF.