Non-tissue factor procoagulants in cancer cells.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S G Gordon.
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Cancer cells induce abnormal blood coagulation through a process that probably involves a combination of increased activators and deficiencies of anticoagulants. The probable participating factors (including tissue factor-factor VII and cancer procoagulant) and their role in this process are discussed. The current theory on the role of coagulation in malignant disease is also discussed.
Cancer procoagulant (CP) is a cysteine proteinase found in a variety of malignant cells and tissues and in human amnion-chorion tissue. It initiates coagulation by activating factor X. However, the amino acid sequence of the substrate protein that determines the cleavage site of cysteine proteinases is different from that of the serine proteinases that normally activate factor X, such as factor IXa, VIIa and Russell's Viper Venom (RVV). Therefore, it was of interest to determine the site of cleavage of human factor X by CP. Purified CP was incubated with purified factor X and the reaction mixture was electrophoresed on a 10% Tris-tricine SDS-PAGE gel. The proteins were electroeluted on to a polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane, and stained with Coomassie blue. The heavy chain of activated factor X was cut out of the PVDF membrane and sequenced with an Applied Biosystems 477A with on-line HPLC. The primary cleavage sequence was Asp-Ala-Ala-Asp-Leu-Asp-Pro-; two other secondary sequences Ser-Ile-Thr-Trp-Lys-Pro- and Glu-Asn-Pro-Phe-Asp-Leu were found. The penultimate amino acid on the carbonyl side of the hydrolysed amide bond plays a critical role for the recognition of the cleavage site of cysteine proteinases. These data indicate that the penultimate amino acid for the primary cleavage site of factor X by CP is proline-20 and for the secondary sites, proline-13 and proline-28. This is in contrast to arginine-52 that determines the specificity of the cleavage by normal serine proteinase activation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Cancer procoagulant (CP) is a Mr 68,000 cysteine proteinase that initiates blood coagulation and is expressed by a variety of malignant cells but not by normally differentiated cells. Polyclonal immunoglobulin G and monoclonal immunoglobulin M antibodies were developed to purified CP and used to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to analyze the antigen in human serum samples. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether or not the analysis of CP in the serum might be a useful tumor marker. Pure CP was added to normal serum to establish a quantitative standard curve; the correlation coefficient of seven standard curves was 0.99. The upper limit of the normal range was established with 46 normal sera (mean +/- 2 SD = 0.57 microgram/ml). A total of 128 blinded serum samples were analyzed: 54 were from cancer patients (29 with gastrointestinal cancer, 22 with lung cancer, and three with urogenital cancer); 20 were from benign disease patients; and 54 were from normal individuals. All of the 13 early stage cancers were greater than 0.57 microgram/ml (positive), 31 of 41 (76%) of the late stage cancers were positive; overall, 44 of the 54 cancers (81%) were positive. Forty-nine of 54 (91%) of the normal sera and 16 of 20 (80%) of the benign disease sera were negative. Overall, the assay had a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 88%.
The two objectives of the study were to determine whether a procedure could be developed for measuring cancer procoagulant (CP) activity in human serum and if this procedure provided a method for distinguishing people with cancer from those without cancer. A procedure was developed for processing human serum such that the activity of other coagulation enzymes would be minimized and the activity of cancer procoagulant could be measured. In a blinded study, we collected serum from 61 individuals in serum separator tubes, removed the clot by centrifugation, extracted the serum with a simple, single step procedure and analyzed the extract for CP activity. The results indicate that this test could correctly identify about 92% of the cancer patient serum samples and about 75% of the non-cancer patients serum samples, for an overall accuracy of about 85%.
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It has repeatedly been proposed that fibrin plays a role in tumor growth and metastasis. Among tumor cell products or activities which may promote clot formation, cancer procoagulant (CP), a direct activator of coagulation factor X, has been suggested to be selectively associated with the malignant phenotype. We report here the enzymatic and immunological identification of this cysteine proteinase procoagulant in extracts and cells from human melanoma. CP activity was independent of both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of blood coagulation, using factor IX and factor VII deficient plasmas, and was inhibited by the cysteine proteinase inhibitors iodoacetamide and HgCl2. CP activity was detectable in extracts and cell suspensions from all 32 patients studied and was higher in extracts from metastases (14.8 +/- 3.9 units/mg protein) than from the primary tumors (3.7 +/- 1.0 units/mg protein). CP activity was not affected by an anti-apoprotein III antibody or by concanavalin A, a known inhibitor of thromboplastin. In contrast, no CP activity or antigen was detected in extracts from six benign melanocytic lesions. The procoagulant activity was dependent on factor VII and was inhibited by anti-apoprotein III antibody and by concanavalin A, properties that suggest that the procoagulant was tissue thromboplastin. These data indicate that CP can be expressed by human tumor cells and that, among melanotic lesions, its presence is associated with the malignant phenotype and its activity is particularly high in metastatic cells.
Cancer procoagulant, a proteolytic procoagulant enzyme, has been purified from rabbit V2 carcinoma extracts by two procedures. In the first, the protein was purified by benzamidine--Sepharose affinity chromatography, gel filtration chromatography, and phenyl-Sepharose hydrophobic chromatography. Antiserum was raised against the purified protein and was used to prepare an immunoadsorbent column. In the second, tumor extracts were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography followed by p-(chloromercuri)benzoate affinity chromatography. The second procedure was substantially quicker and easier. The final product of both procedures was homogeneous on the basis of analytical sodium dodecyl sulfate--polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. The molecular weight was 68 000 and the isoelectric point 4.8. The proteinase activity of cancer procoagulant directly activated factor X, in the absence of factor VII, and was inhibited by 1 mM iodoacetamide and 0.1 mM mercury which are classic cysteine proteinase inhibitors. A carbohydrate analysis showed less than 1 mol of hexose or sialic acid/mol of protein. The amino acid analysis showed that serine (19.1%), glycine (18.77%), and glutamic acid (12.5%) were the prevalent amino acids. The amino acid composition of cancer procoagulant was substantially different than other known factor X activating proteinases or other cysteine proteinases including cathepsin B.
Cysteine proteinases that initiate coagulation in the absence of factor VII have been isolated from rabbit V2 carcinoma and from human amnion-chorion. Many of their biochemical properties, including a molecular weight of 68 000 and inhibition by iodoacetamide and mercury, are the same. In the paper we compare the isoelectric point, the amino acid composition and the carbohydrate content of human amnion-chorion procoagulant and cancer procoagulant. With the exception of minor differences in the amino acid composition, attributable in part to differences in species, the two proteins are closely homologous.
Various coagulation abnormalities are associated with pregnancy. Several investigators have suggested that there may be a unique procoagulant associated with amniotic tissue and fluid. We identified a cysteine proteinase from malignant tissue, cancer procoagulant, and had reason to believe a similar proteinase may be present in amniotic tissue. Amniotic fluid and extracts of amnion-chorion were purified by immunoaffinity chromatography with an antibody that was developed to cancer procoagulant antigen. The purified amnion-chorion procoagulant initiated clotting in normal and factor VII-deficient citrated human plasma and directly activated pure human factor X in a two-stage clotting assay. It was inhibited by 1 mmol/L of iodoacetamide and 0.1 mmol/L of HgCl2, and the procoagulant activity was activated by 10 mmol/L of KCN; these are classic properties of cysteine proteinases. The pure amnion-chorion procoagulant had the same mol wt and immunologic determinants as cancer procoagulant from rabbit V2 carcinoma, as determined by crossed immunodiffusion, suggesting that the same or very similar proteins were associated with both tissues. Thus, this procoagulant may be derived from both undifferentiated and dedifferentiated cells.
Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an inherited disease characterized by calcified degenerative changes of elastin in the skin, eye, and vasculature. Previous studies suggested the abnormal presence of a protease from PXE fibroblasts that degrades sulfated proteoglycans. This study describes the use of a radioassay to quantitate proteoglycan degradation by proteases from normal and PXE fibroblasts. PXE protease had optimal activity at pH 6.0. Inhibition of activity by 5 mM diisopropylfluorophosphate, 5 mM phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride, and 0.1 mM HgCl2 was reversed by 10 mM dithiothreitol. Iodoacetamide (1 mM) irreversibly inhibited activity. Carbobenzyloxy-phenylalanyl-alanyl (0.1 mM) and carbobenzyloxy-lysyl-diazomethyl ketone (10 microM) inhibited the proteoglycanase activity. These data suggest that the PXE proteolytic proteoglycanase activity is a cysteine protease. After blocking activity with 5 mM EDTA, addition of 10 mM Mg++, Mn++, Cu++, or Co++ had little effect (less than 10%) on restoring activity, 10 mM CaCl2 restored approximately 70% recovery of the activity, and 10 mM ZnCl2 stimulated the activity to 500% of the initial level. Similar normal fibroblast samples contained little zinc-dependent activity and a substantial amount of calcium-dependent activity. Thus the distinction between the divalent ion requirements for proteoglycan degradation suggests that the PXE fibroblasts may produce a different cysteine protease than do normal fibroblasts.
The metastatic process is a complex sequence of steps that may involve coagulation and the presence of fibrin. F1 (low incidence of lung colonization) and F10 (high incidence of lung colonization) variants of the B16 mouse melanoma were used to examine the relationship between the level of cellular procoagulant activity and their metastatic potential. Cell suspensions were prepared from cultures of B16-F1 and B16-F10 cell lines. Aliquots (0.2 ml) containing 50,000 cells were assayed for procoagulant activity in recalcified citrated rat plasma and for metastatic capacity by tail vein injection followed by counting of melanotic lung tumor colonies 17 days later. In one series of experiments, procoagulant activity and metastatic capacity were determined at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after plating. The data showed an almost parallel decrease in both characteristics as the culture density increased. To examine the correlation between cellular procoagulant activity and the metastatic capacity of the B16 variants in two different series of experiments, regression analysis of the level of procoagulant activity and the number of lung tumor colonies gave correlation coefficients of 0.9 (n = 15) and 0.79 (n = 8). These results suggest that fibrin formation resulting from cellular procoagulant activity may play a role in the metastatic process.
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A proteolytic procoagulant has been identified in extracts of human and animal tumors and in cultured malignant cells. It directly activated Factor X but its similarity to other Factor S-activating serine proteases was not clear. This study describes work done to determine whether this enzyme, cancer procoagulant, is a serine or cysteine protease. Purified cancer procoagulant from rabbit V2 carcinoma was bound to a p-chloromercurialbenzoate-agarose affinity column and was eluted with dithiothreitol. The initiation of recalcified, citrated plasma coagulation activity by cancer procoagulant was inhibited by 5 mM diisopropylfluorophosphate, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride, 0.1 mM HgCl2, and 1 mM iodoacetamide. Activity was restored in the diisopropylfluorophosphate-, phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride-, and HgCl2-inhibited samples by 5 mM dithiothreitol; iodoacetamide inhibition was irreversible. Russell's viper venom, a control Factor X-activating serine protease, was not inhibited by either 0.1 mM HgCl2 or 1 mM iodoacetamide. The direct activation of Factor X by cancer procoagulant in a two-stage assay was inhibited by diisopropylfluorophosphate and iodoacetamide. Diisopropylfluorophosphate inhibits serine proteases, and an undefined impurity in most commercial preparations inhibits cysteine proteases. Hydrolysis of diisopropylfluorophosphate with CuSO4 and imidazole virtually eliminated inhibition of thrombin, but cancer procoagulant inhibition remained complete, suggesting that cancer procoagulant was inhibited by the undefined impurity. These results suggest that cancer procoagulant is a cysteine endopeptidase, which distinguishes it from other coagulation factors including tissue factor. This and other data suggest that neoplastic cells produce this unique cysteine protease which may initiate blood coagulation.
There is increased deposition and lysis of fibrin in cancer, but little is known about the causes of this abnormal fibrin formation. This article reviews research on cancer procoagulant and presents some preliminary immunohistochemical studies. Cancer procoagulant was purified from a rabbit V2 carcinoma. It was a single polypeptide cysteine protease with a molecular weight of 68,000 daltons and an isoelectric point of 4.8-4.9. It initiates coagulation by directly activating factor X within the coagulation cascade. Its physical, chemical, and enzymatic properties distinguish it from serine proteases within the coagulation cascade and suggest that it is a protein from neoplastic cells. To determine whether cancer procoagulant was unique to the malignant state, procoagulant activity was assayed in extracts of normal and malignant tissue and serum-free medium from normal and transformed fibroblasts. Normal tissue and cells had procoagulant activity with characteristics similar to tissue factor, while malignant tissue and transformed cells had a procoagulant with the characteristics of cancer procoagulant, suggesting that cancer procoagulant is unique to the malignant state. An antibody to cancer procoagulant was used for horseradish peroxidase immunohistochemical staining fo cultured rabbit V2 carcinoma cells. These preliminary results support the concept that malignant cells produce the cancer procoagulant antigen.
A continuous human cell line, COLO 357, with exceptional characteristics was derived from a metastasis of a pancreatic adenocarcinoma. COLO 357 grew as an adhering monolayer with a cell doubling time of 21 h and grew with 10% clonal efficiency in soft agar. COLO 357 cells had numerous lamellar inclusions. The cells elaborated the pancreatic enzymes trypsin, elastase and chymotrypsin. COLO 357 also secreted appreciable amounts of carcinoembryonic antigen and human chorionic gonadotropin. COLO 357 had a chromosome mode of 53 with 20 identifiable Giemsa-banded marker chromosomes. Nine nucleolar organizing regions were found by silver-stained metaphase preparations. COLO 357 has been "fingerprinted" for seven allelic isozymes. This cell line has been maintained in active culture for over 2 years, is preserved in a cell bank, and is available to other investigators.
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