Three human rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines were used to investigate the presence of autocrine loops based on the production of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-II, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF)/transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha and of their corresponding receptors, and whether these loops affect cell proliferation and myogenic differentiation. Here, TGFA is linked to rhabdomyosarcoma.