Loss of malignancy during serial passage of human carcinoma in culture and discordance between malignancy and transformation parameters.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
E Reich
Publications and source records attributed to E Reich.
Experimental model for quantitative study of metastasis.
This paper describes the growth of HEp-3, a human epidermoid carcinoma, in the chick embryo. When inoculated onto the chorioallantoic membrane, the tumor grows locally with a doubling time of 21 to 24 hr and disseminates widely in the embryo proper, metastasis to the lung and heart being especially prominent. The tumor secretes large amounts of plasminogen activator (PA) both in vivo and in vitro. This enzyme of human origin can be easily identified in a mixture containing both human and chicken PA's, since each PA has a marked preference for the homologous plasminogen. Thus the presence of human PA in tissues and body fluids can be used as a quantitative marker for HEp-3 metastasis both in embryos and in newly hatched chicks. Two assays for metastasis are described; their respective sensitivities are less than 4 x 10(4) and less than 500 HEp-3 cells per 17-day chick embryo lung (or approximately 1 HEp-3 cell per 400 and per 3 x 10(4) lung cells), respectively. These assays revealed that tumor growth and metastasis are sensitive to embryo age, inoculation onto the chorioallantoic membrane at 10 days being optimal for both. Tumor size, the length of the latent period that precedes the appearance of lung metastasis, and the number of metastatic cells in the lungs are all influenced by inoculum size. Generally, but not uniformly, an increased level of lung metastasis is correlated with tumor size on the chorioallantoic membrane. The attractive features of this system for quantitative study of metastasis are reproducibility rapidity, sensitivity, convenience, and cost.
Age Factors↗
Plasminogen activator from cells transformed by an oncogenic virus: inhibitors of the activation reaction.
This paper describes an assay for direct measurement of plasminogen activation and its application for determining the kinetic constants and for screening potential inhibitors of the reaction. The assay is based on the conversion of the single chain of 125I-labelled plasminogen to the two chains of 125I-labelled plasmin (EC 3.4.21.7), the latter then being separated from each other and from the plasminogen substrate by electrophoresis under reducing conditions in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The Km of activator from transformed murine cells for human plasminogen was 180 nM. A broad range of compounds was tested as potential inhibitors of plasminogen activation and of plasmin-catalyzed fibrinolysis respectively, and the two reactions differed qualitatively and quantitatively in their response to previous agents. The principal qualitative difference was in the susceptibility of the reactions to a spectrum of naturally-occurring macromolecular inhibitors: all of the macromolecular inhibitors that blocked the action of plasmin were without effect on murine activator or human urokinase (EC 3.4.99.26). A variety of small molecules inhibited both of the reactions tested, and showed significant quantitative differences; some of these were active at micron concentrations. The exacting specificity of plasminogen activators for macromolecules, both substrates and inhibitors, encourages the expectation that effective inhibitors of great specificity may be isolated from as yet undiscovered natural sources.
Amino Acids↗
RNA and protein synthesis in human peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes.
Polymorphonuclear leukocytes purified from human peripheral blood synthesized RNA and proteins when placed in cell culture. Autoradiography of the cultured cells revealed that a majority of mature PMNs were engaged in macromolecule synthesis, and an analysis of newly synthesized proteins by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that many different polypeptide chains were synthesized by these cells. The rate of [3H]uridine incorporation and the pattern of newly synthesized proteins were modulated by Con A and glucocorticoids. These results suggest that in spite of their short lifetime and a large performed enzymatic apparatus, mature PMNs retain a substantial capacity for RNA and protein synthesis; and, further, that modulation of macromolecule synthesis forms part of the mechanism by which PMNs respond to inflammatory and anti-flammatory stimuli.
Blood Proteins↗
Neutral proteinases of leucocytes and the inflammatory process.
Plasminogen, the inactive precursor of plasmin, a general trypsin-like proteinase, is present at high concentration in blood and in body fluids. Most cells can recruit this proteolytic potential by secreting plasminogen activator (PA) to generate localized proteolysis in the surrounding microenvironment. PA and plasmin are serine enzymes whose pH optima match extracellular pH; further, in view of the large amount of circulating proenzyme and the broad substrate range of plasmin, the possibility that this proteolytic system can initiate a variety of proteolytic reactions or sequences should be kept in mind. PA production is precisely regulated by hormones, temporal programming, or both; and enzyme synthesis is correlated with some physiological and pathological processes requiring proteolysis. Thus PA production is coordinately regulated with ovulation, trophoblast implantation, spermatogenesis, polypeptide hormone synthesis, and some developmental phenomena; and with inflammation, tumour promotion, and neoplasia. Tissue remodelling and cell migration are common to many of these processes. Macrophage (monocyte) and polymorphonuclear leucocyte PA production is modulated by many biologically active substances. Enzyme synthesis is induced and stimulated by stimuli that recruit these cells to sites of inflammation, and it is repressed by anti-inflammatory agents, notably by glucocorticoids.
Animals↗
Effect of vitamin A on plasminogen activator synthesis by chick embryo fibroblasts.
Low concentrations of Vitamin A stimulated plasminogen activator synthesis (PA) in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF). It caused a dose dependent and reversible increase in PA synthesis in both normal CEF and CEF infected with a temperature sensitive mutant of Rous Sarcoma virus (RSV-Ts68). Both induction and deinduction of PA could be inhibited by Actinomycin D. Vitamin A also accentuated the morphological changes associated with transformation in the Rous Sarcoma virus infected cells. The effects of Vitamin A on PA synthesis were essentially similar to those of the known tumour promoter, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Both Vitamin A and PMA were found to act synergistically with sarcoma gene expression as far as PA synthesis was concerned.
Animals↗
Mammary plasminogen activator: correlation with involution, hormonal modulation and comparison between normal and neoplastic tissue.
We have analyzed the plasminogen activator (PA) content of normal rodent mammary glands at different stages of the mammary life cycle and after exposing the animals to various hormones; we have also assessed the PA response of mammary explants to a variety of hormonal environments. Similar studies were performed on a limited number of primary mammary tumors. Plasminogen activator production was clearly correlated with mammary involution. A large but transient increase in enzyme content followed the initiation of involution in all glands, and the enzyme was produced by mammary cells, not by macrophages or granulocytes. Oxytocin, prolactin and hydrocortisone, which slowed or blocked involution, produced parallel effects on gland regression and PA synthesis. PA synthesis by explants in organ culture was induced by hormonal environments that fostered involution and repressed by those that promoted lactation. Mammary tumors produced much more PA than normal tissue both in vivo and in vitro, and distinct differences were found in the response of enzyme synthesis to hormones. The results reinforce the association of PA with tissue remodeling; show that the enzyme can be used as an indicator of cellular response to a wide range of hormones in both normal and malignant tissue; and suggest that observations of this type in organ culture may be of some value in predicting physiological responses in vivo.
Animals↗
Modulation of plasminogen activator synthesis in chick embryo fibroblasts by cyclic nucleotides and phorobol myristate acetate.
To explore the interaction of tumor promoters and sarcoma virus transformation with cellular regulatory mechanisms, we have studied induction of plasminogen activator synthesis by these agents in a background of changing cyclic nucleotide concentrations. We have confirmed the original report of Wigler and Weinstein (Nature, 259: 232, 1976) that phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), a potent tumor promoter, induces high levels of plasminogen activator production by chick embryo fibroblasts. Sarcoma virus transformation sensitizes the fibroblasts by lowering the threshold concentration for response to the action of PMA, and the effects of transformation and PMA on plasminogen activator synthesis are synergistic rather than additive. The plasminogen activators produced in the PMA-, virus-induced, or synergistically stimulated cultures are indistinguishable. Enzyme production in all three conditions is strongly but reversibly inhibited when cyclic nucleotide levels are raised by exposure to cyclic adenosine-3':5'-monophosphate or cholera toxin. A substantial fraction of the morphological effect that accompanies transformation is not affected by concentrations of cyclic nucleotides that suppress plasminogen activator production, and the two phenomena are therefore at least partially independent expressions of transformation in this system.
Animals↗
A study of proteases and protease-inhibitor complexes in biological fluids.
We have (a) screened a variety of cell lines and body fluids for plasminogen activators and (b) studied the activity of proteases bound to alpha2- macroglobulin after exposing the complexes to partial degradation and/or denaturing procedures to unmask proteolytic activity. The respective results show (a) that the plasminogen activators in urine and cell culture media are generally of lower molecular weight than those in plasma; and (b) that proteases bound to alpha2-macroglobulin recover the ability to attack macromolecular substrates after exposure to sodium dodecyl sulfate while retaining the electrophoretic mobility of the protease inhibitor complex. This indicates that the protease and inhibitor are probably linked by covalent bonds. In contrast, other complexes formed between proteases and inhibitors of lower molecular weight (such as soybean or Kunitz inhibitors) are fully dissociated by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The experiments described were based on a new procedure for detecting proteolytic enzyme activity in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The method relies on solutions of nonionic detergents for extracting SDS, after which the electrophoretic gel is applied to an indicator gel consisting of a fibrin- agar mixture. The method is sensitive, permitting the detection of proteinases in less than 1 mul of fresh plasma, and it is effective for resolving small differences in molecular weight. The procedure can be quantitated and, with minor modifications appropriate to each particular system, it has been applied to a broad spectrum of serine enzymes and proenzymes, including some that function in the pathways of fibrinolysis, coagulation and kinin-generation. Other potential applications appear likely.
Agar↗
Transglutaminase-catalyzed insertion of a fluorescent probe into the protease-sensitive region of rhodopsin.
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Animals↗
Specific protease deficiency in polymorphonuclear leukocytes of Chédiak-Higashi syndrome and beige mice.
Peripheral blood leukocytes of three patients with Chédiak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) contained very low or undetectable levels of elastase, the major neutral protease in these cells. Likewise, peritoneal exudate leukocytes of beige mice (the murine counterpart of CHS) contained correspondingly reduced levels of their major neutral protease, a serine enzyme of mol wt 27,000. The elastase deficiency in CHS polymorphonuclear leukocytes might account in part for the high incidence of infections in these patients.
Animals↗
Serine enzymes released by cultured neoplastic cells.
Serine proteases or esterases released from cell cultures into the growth medium were converted to radioactive derivatives by active site labeling with tritiated DFP, both in the presence and absence of other competing active site reagents. The individual labeled enzymes were then identified by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and scintillation autoradiography. Conditioned medium from embryonal mouse fibroblasts transformed by mouse sarcoma virus contained five serine enzymes that were not present in medium from normal cells; two serine enzymes were released by both cell types, and one serine enzyme was found only in medium from normal cells. Two of the enzymes released by transformed cells were identified as plasminogen activators; these accounted for most of the serine enzyme labeling in transformed culture media and for most of the serine enzyme difference between normal and transformed cultures. The culture fluids from two cell strains of human neoplastic origin were examined by the same method. A rhabdomyosarcoma strain released eight serine enzymes (mol wt ranging from 22,500 to 102,000), four of which were plasminogen activators; seven serine enzymes (mol wt 26,000-102,000), including two plasminogen activators, were detected in medium from human melanoma cultures. In terms of electrophoretic mobility two of the plasminogen activators from rhabdomyosarcoma were identical with those from melanoma cultures, while the remaining two rhabdomyosarcoma activators coincided with activators found in commerical urokinase.
Binding Sites↗
Plasminogen activator in chick fibroblasts: induction of synthesis by retinoic acid; synergism with viral transformation and phorbol ester.
This paper reports the effect of vitamin A and its derivatives, the retinoids, on plasminogen activator (PA) synthesis in chick embryo fibroblast cultures (CEF). Low concentrations of retinoic acid (RA) (10(-6)-10(-10) M) and the retinoids stimulated PA synthesis in CEF; the maximal stimulation achieved, 9--10 fold, was somewhat lower than that obtained with optimal concentrations of the potent tumor promoter phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). This action of RA required protein and mRNA synthesis but, in contrast to enzyme induction by PMA and/or sarcoma virus transformation, retinoid effects were not significantly inhibited by elevated concentrations of cAMP. In inducing and/or stimulating PA production, the effects of RA and sarcoma virus transformation were synergistic rather than additive. Analogous synergism was observed between RA and PMA, but only at suboptimal concentrations of the latter. RA did not affect PA production in normal or transformed cultures maximally stimulated by PMA. These findings may help to elucidate the role of retinoids in promoting tumor growth, tissue remodeling and teratogenesis.
Animals↗
Metabolism of acetylcholine receptor in chick embryo muscle cells: effects of RSV and PMA.
We have investigated some aspects of the metabolism of the integral membrane protein acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in normal and transformed cultures of chick embryo muscle cells. Turnover of AChR in control muscle cell cultures was compared with turnover in cultures infected and transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) and with cultures treated with the tumor promoter phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). The parameters of AChR metabolism were estimated using 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin as a stoichiometric high affinity ligand for the AChR. We found that both RSV transformation and PMA increased the rate of degradation and decreased the rate of synthesis of AChR. The consequent reduction in steady state receptor levels suggests that oncogenic transformation and tumor promoter significantly alter the metabolism of cell surface membranes. We also observed that parameters of AChR metabolism in control cultures changed systematically in a pattern which depended upon the age of the culture as well as the use of embryo extract or fetal bovine serum as medium supplements. The muscle cell system allows quantitative measurement of an integral membrane protein and its metabolism, and may serve as a more general model for alterations in membrane and surface receptor metabolism associated with the transformed state.
Animals↗
Plasminogen activator in chick embryo muscle cells: induction of enzyme by RSV, PMA and retinoic acid.
To explore the generality of the effects of sarcoma viruses, tumor-promoting phorbol esters and retinoic acid, we have studied plasminogen activator production in differentiating chick myogenic cultures. Although slightly higher than in chick fibroblast cultures, the level of spontaneously synthesized enzyme is low; it reaches a peak shortly after maximum cell fusion has been completed and then declines. Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) transformation of differentiating myotubes was accomplished by infecting myoblasts with a temperature-sensitive mutant, maintaining cultures at the nonpermissive temperature until completion of fusion and shifting to permissive temperatures at selected times thereafter. RSV transformation, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and retinoic acid all induced high levels of plasminogen activator production by differentiating myotubes in the absence of DNA synthesis. In comparison with fibroblasts, virus-induced enzyme synthesis by myogenic cultures proceeded more slowly but ultimately reached comparably high levels. Whereas cAMP strongly repressed RSV- and PMA-induced plasminogen activator production by chick fibroblasts, it weakly stimulated enzyme synthesis by myotubes. This suggests that enzyme induction by RSV and PMA is not mediated primarily through effects on cAMP metabolism.
Animals↗
Modulation and mapping of a human plasminogen activator by cell fusion.
Neoplastic cells, transformed cells and some normal mammalian cells secrete large amounts of plasminogen activator (PA), an arginine-specific protease which converts plasminogen to plasmin. To study the regulation of PA, we have obtained two classes of mouse-human somatic cell hybrids. PG19, a mouse PA+ cell line, was fused with C32 (human PA+) or human diploid fibroblasts (PA-). All hybrids secreted PA. Human- and mouse-specific forms of PA were distinguished in these hybrids by electrophoretic methods. While all hybrids produced the murine PA, many produced the human PA and some did not. All hybrids which produced human PA had chromosome 6 in common. The absence of each of the other human chromosomes did not affect PA expression, while the absence of chromosome 6 correlated with the lack of human PA. We conclude that chromosome 6 carries the structural gene for human PA. These experiments also show that the fusion of mouse PA+ cells with human PA- cells results in the activation of the human PA gene.
Animals↗
Merocyanine 540 as a fluorescent probe of membranes: staining of electrically excitable cells.
With the exception of certain blood cells considered in the accompanying paper (Valinsky, Easton and Reich, 1978), merocyanine 540 (MC 540), a fluorescent membrane probe, selectively strains the membranes of a wide variety of electrically excitable cells, but not those of nonexcitable cells. This reaction is Ca2+-dependent when staining is performed in buffered iso-osmotic sucrose, Ca2+-independent when staining proceeds at high ionic strength, inhibited by La3+ and sodium Suramin, enhanced by controlled, low level photosensitization of cell-associated dye and essentially irreversible. These characteristics of the staining reaction depend upon the maintenance of both cell viability and a normal unperturbed membrane structure. Although the mechanisms involved in the staining specificity remain unknown, observation of MC 540 partitioning between benzene and water in model reactions indicates that dye transport into hydrophobic solvents is accompanied by the formation of stoichiometric complexes with cations and phospholipids. These results may suggest the existence of specific, possibly phospholipid-rich membrane domains that mediate complex formation with MC 540 in excitable cells; comparable domains either would not exist, or would be inaccessible at the external surfaces of nonexcitable cells.
Benzoxazoles↗
Merocyanine 540 as a fluorescent probe of membranes: selective staining of leukemic and immature hemopoietic cells.
We have reported (Easton, Valinsky and Reich, 1978) that merocyanine 540 (MC 540) specifically stains a variety of living excitable cells, but not nonexcitable cells. This paper describes the exceptional permeability to MC 540 of leukemic leukocytes and immature hemopoietic precursor cells. We have used fluorescence microscopy and uptake of radioactive dye to study MC 540 staining of peripheral blood leukocytes from 80 leukemic and 34 normal individuals; leukemic leukocytes stain, whereas normal leukcytes do not. The leukocyte staining reaction differs from that previously described for excitable cells since it is independent of the ionic composition of the staining medium, kinetically complex, enhanced by light, enhanced by oxygen and essentially irreversible. Virtually all circulating nucleated cells from leukemic individuals are stained to approximately the same extent, and there is no qualitative or quantitative distinction between the various forms of leukemia. We have also found that MC 540 interacts with granulopoietic colony-forming cells (CFU-C) and with spleen colony-forming cells derived from mouse bone marrow (CFU-S). We cannot as yet identify a specific property of leukocyte plasma membranes that determines MC 540 permeability; since changes in MC 540 uptake appear to be correlated with cellular maturation during normal hemopoiesis, the retention of staining by leukemic cells, some of which appear morphologically normal, may indicate of failure in membrane maturation during leukemic blood cell development.
Benzoxazoles↗