ABSTRACT
The aminoterminal propeptide (hotPINP) of type I homotrimer, a putative malignancy-associated type I collagen variant, was purified for the first time and a method was established for its detection in pleural fluid. Samples of 58 patients, with malignant or benign disease, were studied with specific immunoassays for the two propeptides of type-I procollagen (PICP and PINP) and with HPLC-DEAE chromatography to separate the two PINP variants. HotPINP was present in 64% of both benign and malignant pleural effusion fluids, with the exception of malignant mesotheliomas, none of which showed the presence of hotPINP. Also the PICP to PINP ratios were lower than normal in both benign and malignant samples (altogether in 69% of samples), although this deviation was greater in malignancy. These two phenomena were independent of each other. As synthesis of the alpha1-homotrimer-variant of type-I collagen seems to be relatively common during the formation of pleural effusion, it may be generally related to a fibroproliferative reaction in the pleural wall.
Subject(s)
Collagen/isolation & purification , Phosphopeptides/isolation & purification , Pleural Effusion, Malignant/chemistry , Amino Acid Sequence , Breast Neoplasms/metabolism , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/metabolism , Peptide Fragments/isolation & purification , Peptide Fragments/metabolism , Pleural Effusion, Malignant/metabolism , Procollagen/isolation & purification , Procollagen/metabolismABSTRACT
In this report we describe the isolation and characterization of a neutral metalloproteinase, from human small cell lung cancer cells, which degrades a wide range of connective tissue proteins. Treatment of tumor cytosol by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by zinc chelated column chromatography, anion exchange chromatography, and gel filtration chromatography yielded a single enzymatically active protein, which on SDS-PAGE appeared as a diffuse band of 65,000-70,000 daltons. The tumor metalloproteinase, which was inhibited by metal chelators and serum, was able to digest gelatin, type I collagen, type IV collagen, laminin, and fibronectin. We propose that the capacity of this proteinase to degrade both components of blood vessel basement membranes and other connective tissue matrices facilitates the dissemination of human lung cancer cells during the multistep process of metastasis.