Retinoid modulation of plasminogen activator production in rat Sertoli cells

Tissue type (t) and urokinase type (u) plasminogen activators (PAs) have been shown to be secreted by Sertoli cells in the seminiferous tubules in a cyclic fashion and to be dependent upon FSH stimulation or upon the presence of adjacent spermatogenic cells. In the present study we have analyzed the production of PAs by retinoid-treated rat Sertoli cells. In addition, because retinoids modulate the response of Sertoli cells to FSH either potentiating or antagonizing its action, we have investigated a possible modulation of FSH-stimulated PA production. Under basal conditions, Sertoli cells, isolated from prepubertal rats, secrete predominantly uPA. A significant dose-dependent inhibition of uPA activity was observed after treatment with retinol, while no significant effect was detected upon tPA secretion. When Sertoli cells were cultured in the presence of 0.25 microM retinol, a significant inhibition of uPA activity was evident after 16 h of treatment and reached approximately 80% after 48 h of treatment. The analysis of the mRNA levels revealed that retinol induces an inhibition of the steady-state levels of uPA mRNA without affecting those of tPA. Moreover, retinol affected uPA mRNA levels by increasing mRNA turnover. The effect of retinoids on Sertoli cells isolated from older animals was less evident, possibly due to the reduced production of uPA with the increase of age of the donor animals. Our results on the effect of retinoids upon Sertoli cell uPA production reinforce the importance of retinoids in the control of postnatal testis development.     

Patterns of plasminogen activator production in cultured normal embryonic cells

Cultured normal low-passage embryo fibroblasts, from a number of species, and two untransformed clones of a Balb/3T3 line elaborate increasing amounts of plasminogen activator (PA) as they approach confluence; the low-passage cells then lose this PA activity after reaching confluence, while the 3T3 cells retain it indefinitely. Even at their peaks, however, the PA activities of the low-passage cells remain well below those of the corresponding virally or spontaneously transformed cells. The PA increases in normal cells are probably a result of PA production rather than of adsorption of secreted PA to the cell surface, or of changes in cell-associated protease inhibitors. The elaboration of PA by normal cells is dependent upon their metabolic activity, such that the level of serum supplementation and the growth phase of the culture directly influence the level of cell-associated PA observed. In addition, there may be a component of serum which exerts a negative control on PA production and which is not an acid-labile protease inhibitor.     

Modulation of synovial fibroblast plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor production by protein kinase C.

Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) added to human synovial fibroblast cultures caused a dose-dependent increase in the production of plasminogen activator inhibitor-type 1 (PAI-1). In addition, PMA inhibited endogenous and interleukin-1 (IL-1) induced plasminogen activator (PA) activity, while increasing mRNA PAI-1 levels. Other protein kinase C (PKC) activators, mezerein and teleocidin B4, caused similar effects. The simultaneous addition of the PKC antagonists, H-7 or staurosporine, prevented the inhibition of PA activity by PMA. This study shows that activation of PKC inhibits PA and stimulates PAI production in human synovial fibroblasts. These results suggest that activation of PKC may play an important role in regulating increased PA production associated with joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).     

Anchorage independent growth and plasminogen activator production by bovine endothelial cells

Endothelial cells obtained from the aortae of 1- to 2-d-old calves were cloned at high efficiency using fibrin-coated dishes. Primary cultures as well as clones derived from them produced high fibrinolytic activity when grown on 125I-fibrin-coated dishes which was 90% dependent upon the presence of plasminogen. High plasminogen-dependent proteolytic activity was also demonstrated in endothelial cell lysates and in the culture medium of the cells. The production and secretion of the plasminogen activator(s) were found to increase during the log phase of cell growth and to reach a maximum level at confluence. These endothelial cells exhibited morphological phenotypes comparable to those of transformed cells when grown in the presence of acid-treated fetal calf, dog, or human serum. Furthermore, they demonstrated anchorage independent growth, and large colonies were formed in semisolid media. Spontaneous neoplastic transformation of these cells was excluded by karyotypic analysis, lack of tumorigenicity in athymic nude mice, and limited lifespan in culture. Cell clones isolated from colonies grown in agarose demonstrated the same growth characteristics and proteolytic activity as before plating in agarose. High fibrinolytic activity, morphological changes in the appropriate serum, and growth in semisolid media may therefore be indicative of the migratory and/or invasive capacity of both nontransformed endothelial cells as well as tumor cells.     

The production of distinct forms of plasminogen activator by mouse embryonic cells

We have examined cultured parietal endoderm, visceral endoderm, and extraembryonic mesoderm cells from the mouse embryo for production of the protease plasminogen activator. All of these cell types synthesize and secrete the enzyme, but the molecular characteristics of the plasminogen activators differ as defined by the apparent molecular weight in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels, the antigenic properties as defined by two antisera to distinct plasminogen activators, and the interaction with an inhibitor present in fetal bovine serum. The parietal endoderm plasminogen activator has a predominant molecular weight of 79,000, is immunoprecipitated and inhibited by an antiserum raised against a human melanoma plasminogen activator, but not by an antiserum against mouse urokinase, and is only partially inhibited by the serum inhibitor. The visceral endoderm and extraembryonic mesoderm plasminogen activators, which are identical by all criteria, have molecular weights of 48,000, are inactivated only by the anti-urokinase antibodies, and are inhibited by an inhibitor in fetal bovine serum. These results establish the presence of at least two different forms of plasminogen activator in the early mouse embryo. The distinctive nature of the enzyme produced by parietal endoderm can be used as a diagnostic marker for this cell type at this stage of development. When F9 teratocarcinoma stem cells are induced to differentiate by retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP, they secrete a plasminogen activator of the parietal endoderm type.     

Calcium stimulation of plasminogen activator secretion/production by swiss 3T3 cells.

Actively growing Swiss 3T3 cells secret high levels of plasminogen activator which decreases after the cells become confluent. In contrast, simian virus 40-transformed 3T3 cells secrete large amounts of plasminogen activator independent of cell density (Chou, I.-N., O'Donnel, S.P., Black, P.H., and Roblin, R.O. (1977) J. Cell. Physiol. 91, 31-38). These results suggest a correlation between active cell multiplication and plasminogen activator secretion in both 3T3 and simian virus-transformed 3T3 cells. The data reported herein indicate that treatment of both subconfluent and confluent Swiss 3T3 cells with high concentrations of Ca2+ (final 3.0 to 4.9 mM) increases the amounts of both secreted and cell-associated plasminogen activator in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the ionophore A23187 (19 to 95 nM) in the presence of a normal level of Ca2+ (1.8 mM) stimulates both production and secretion of plasminogen activator from growing 3T3 cells. The Ca2+ stimulation of plasminogen activator production/secretion may be related to the mitogenic effect of Ca2+.     

Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase inhibitors depress production of plasminogen activator by Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Oncogenic transformation in a limited number of cell systems has been shown by others to be associated with an increased production of extracellular proteolytic activators that convert the plasma proenzyme, plasminogen, to the active protease, plasmin. In the present study, two cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase inhibitors (theophylline, papaverine) markedly depressed the production of intracellular and extracellular plasminogen activator by Chinese hamster ovary cells of the CHO-Kl line in serum-free medium. Prostaglandin E₁ had a moderately similar effect on the production of only extracellular plasminogen activator. The ability to control experimentally the level of production of plasminogen activator should be of value in elucidating the possible biological role of the proteolytic action of plasmin on the surface of CHO cells, and the cell surface alterations which accompany oncogenic transformation.     

Aldosterone up-regulates production of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 by renal mesangial cells

In vivo studies have demonstrated that aldosterone is an independent contributor to glomerulosclerosis. In the present study, we have investigated whether aldosterone itself mediated glomerulosclerosis, as angiotensin II (Ang II) did, by inducing cultured renal mesangial cells to produce plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and whether these effects were mediated by aldosterone-induced increase in transforming growth factor beta(1) (TGF-beta(1)) expression and cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity. Quiescent rat mesangial cells were treated by aldosterone alone or by combination of aldosterone and spironolactone, Ang II, neutralizing antibody to TGF-beta(1) or antioxidant Nacetylcysteme (NAC). This study indicate that aldosterone can increase PAI-1 mRNA and protein expression by cultured mesangial cells alone, which is independent of aldosterone-induced increases in TGF-beta(1) expression and cellular ROS. The effects on PAI-1, TGF-beta(1) and ROS generation were markedly attenuated by spironolactone, a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, which demonstrate that mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) may play a role in mediating these effects of aldosterone.     

On the reversible interaction of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 with tissue-type plasminogen activator and with urokinase-type plasminogen activator

The reaction between plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 is characterized by an initial rapid formation of an inactive reversible complex. The second-order association rate constant (k1) of complex formation of recombinant two-chain tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) or recombinant two-chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator (rtcu-PA) by recombinant plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (rPAI-1) is 2.9 +/- 0.4 x 10(7) M-1 s-1 (mean +/- S.D., n = 30) and 2.0 +/- 0.6 x 10(7) M-1 s-1 (n = 12), respectively. Different molecular forms of tissue- or urokinase-type plasminogen activator which do not form covalent complexes with rPAI-1, including rt-PA-Ala478 (rt-PA with the active-site Ser478 mutagenized to Ala) and anhydro-urokinase (rtcu-PA with the active-site Ser356 converted to dehydroalanine) reduced k1 in a concentration-dependent manner, compatible with 1:1 stoichiometric complex formation between rPAI-1 and these ligands. The apparent dissociation constant (KD) of the complex between rPAI-1 and rt-PA-Ala478, determined as the concentration of rt-PA-Ala478 which reduced k1 to 50% of its control value, was 3-5 nM. Corresponding concentrations of active-site-blocked two-chain rt-PA were 150-250-fold higher. The concentration of anhydro-urokinase which reduced k1 to 50% was 4-6 nM, whereas that of active-site-blocked rtcu-PA was 100-250-fold higher. Recombinant single-chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator had an apparent KD of about 2 microM. These results suggest that inhibition of rt-PA or rtcu-PA by rPAI-1 proceeds via a reversible high affinity interaction which does not require a functional active site but which is markedly reduced following inactivation of the enzymes with active-site titrants.     

Stable production of an analog of human tissue plasminogen activator from culturedDrosophila cells

We have studied the expression of an analog of human tissue plasminogen activator, FK2P, inDrosophila Schneider 2 cells. A number of promoters were tested, including theDrosophila metallothionein promoter (MTd), baculovirus immediate early promoter (IE),Drosophila copia promoter, mouse metallothionein promoter, cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter with or without intron, SV40 immediate early promoter, and human elongation factor 1 promoter. Two of these promoters drove significant expression of FK2P. The MTd promoter is tightly regulated and upon induction with copper or cadmium expression of FK2P increases as much as 180-fold, accumulating in the culture medium to about 7 g FK2P/10⁶ cells/day as determined by ELISA. The IE promoter can direct the constitutive expression to yield about 0.4 g FK2P/10⁶ cells/day. The production of FK2P in these cell lines remains at about the same level after repeated passages, even in the absence of selective pressure. The FK2P accumulated in the culture medium is fully active in an assay using a chromogenic substrate for serine proteases. Western immunoblot analysis shows that the product remains predominately as single-chain molecules in serum-free medium, while in serum-containing medium two-chain material occurs as expected due to the presence of plasmin in serum. Judged from the size in Western immunoblots, the FK2P produced is glycosylated.     

Stimulation of plasminogen activator production by dimethyl sulfoxide in Chinese hamster ovary cells

The production of plasminogen activator activity in an auxotrophic mutant of the Chinese hamster ovary cell line was found be greatly stimulated by low concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide. The production of both cell-associated and excreted plasminogen activator activities was stimulated maximally by dimethyl sulfoxide at a concentration of 2.5%. The stimulation of plasminogen activator activity production was found to be completely inhibited by actinomycin D and cycloheximide but not by mitomycin C, implying that new protein and RNA syntheses were required for this process. Using specific antibodies against plasminogen activator, the presence of a tissue-type plasminogen activator could only be detected in dimethyl sulfoxide treated cells. The dimethyl sulfoxide induced plasminogen activator production was observed only in a mutant auxotrophic for adenosine, glycine, and thymidine but not in wild-type cells. The ability of dimethyl sulfoxide to induce the synthesis of plasminogen activator was lost when the cells were hybridized with another complementary auxotrophic mutant. This implies that the ability of dimethyl sulfoxide to stimulate the production of plasminogen activator may be related to the auxotrophic mutation in this cell.     

Secretion of single-chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator from insect cells.

A cDNA encoding human urokinase-type plasminogen activator was inserted downstream from the polyhedrin promoter of the baculovirus Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus. A protein of similar Mr to urokinase (UK) was synthesized and approx. 90% was secreted from recombinant virus-infected Spodoptera frugiperda cells. Zymography and Western blotting analysis of the insect-derived protein demonstrated that it was comprised solely of the high-Mr form of UK. No low-Mr UK was detected. Amidolytic activity assays showed that 96% of the insect cell-derived UK was in the single-chain proenzyme form. The yield of UK from insect cells was 1986 international units/ml/10(6) infected cells.     

Polarized secretion of urokinase-type plasminogen activator by epithelial cells.

Numerous epithelial cell types produce and secrete plasminogen activators (PAs) and/or PA inhibitors (PAIs). When epithelial cells were grown on polycarbonate filters and their apical and basolateral secretion products analyzed, PA activity accumulated in a highly polarized fashion; depending upon the cell line, the compartment of PA accumulation was either apical (MDCK I cells and HBL-100 cells) or basolateral (LLC-PK1, CaCo-2, and HeLa cells). By contrast, PAI-1 was recovered in roughly equal amounts in both compartments. Basolateral accumulation of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), but not its apical targeting, required an acidic compartment and the integrity of the cytoskeleton. Polarity of uPA accumulation did not result from removal of the free enzyme from the opposite compartment through its binding to the cell surface. Transfection with wild-type or mutated murine uPA demonstrated that neither the "growth factor" domain nor the kringle domain is required for the appropriate sorting of the protein. We propose that polarized secretion of PAs is one mechanism whereby cells spatially control extracellular proteolysis.     

Interaction of single-chain urokinase-type plasminogen activator with human endothelial cells

The interaction of urokinase-type plasminogen activators with receptors on the surface of endothelial cells may play an important role in the regulation of fibrinolysis and cell migration. Therefore, we investigated whether human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) express receptors for single-chain urokinase (scu-PA) on the cell surface and examined the effect of such binding on plasminogen activator activity. Binding of 125I-labeled scu-PA to HUVEC, performed at 4 degrees C, was saturable, reversible, and specific (k+1 4 +/- 1 X 10(6) min-1 M-1, k-1 6.2 +/- 1.4 X 10(-3) min-1, Kd 2.8 +/- 0.1 nM; Bmax 2.2 +/- 0.1 X 10(5) sites/cell; mean +/- S.E.). Binding of radiolabeled scu-PA was inhibited by both natural and recombinant wild-type scu-PA, high molecular weight two-chain u-PA (tcu-PA), catalytic site-inactivated tcu-PA, an amino-terminal fragment of u-PA (amino acids 1-143), and a smaller peptide (amino acids 4-42) corresponding primarily to the epidermal growth factor-like domain. Binding was not inhibited by low molecular weight urokinase or by a recombinant scu-PA missing amino acids 9-45. Cell-bound scu-PA migrated at its native molecular mass on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In the presence of plasminogen, scu-PA bound to endothelial cells generated greater plasmin activity than did scu-PA in the absence of cells. In contrast, when tcu-PA was added directly to HUVEC, sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes formed with cell or matrix-associated plasminogen activator inhibitors with a loss of plasminogen activator activity. These studies suggest that endothelial cells in culture express high affinity binding sites for the epidermal growth factor domain of scu-PA. Interaction of scu-PA with these receptors may permit plasminogen activator activity to be expressed at discrete sites on the endothelial cell membrane.     

The endothelial cell tissue plasminogen activator receptor. Specific interaction with plasminogen.

Human endothelial cells (EC) assemble plasmin-generating proteins on their surface. We have previously identified an EC membrane protein (Mr approximately 40,000) which specifically binds tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) but not urokinase (Hajjar, K.A., and Hamel, N. M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 2908-2916). In the present study, t-PA receptor protein (t-PA-R) was purified to apparent homogeneity from a detergent extract of human placental tissue by diisopropyl fluorophosphate-t-PA affinity chromatography and preparative gel electrophoresis. In a solid phase binding assay wells coated with t-PA-R bound both 125I-t-PA and 125I-Lys-plasminogen (PLG), but not 125I-urokinase in a specific, reversible, and noncompetitive fashion. Binding of 125I-Lys-PLG, but not 125I-t-PA, to t-PA-R was 80% inhibited by a 20-100-fold molar excess of the PLG-like lipoprotein(a), or by the lysine analog, epsilon-aminocaproic acid (50 mM). A polyclonal anti-t-PA-R antibody inhibited 66 and 79% of the specific 125I-t-PA and 125I-Lys-PLG binding, respectively, to EC monolayers. Biosynthetically labeled 40-kDa protein coprecipitated with t-PA- or Lys-PLG-Sepharose beads, but not with unconjugated Sepharose. In a functional assay, t-PA associated with immobilized t-PA-R generated 6.4 times more plasmin than an equivalent amount of t-PA in the fluid phase. These results suggest that t-PA-R can bind both t-PA and Lys-PLG in a manner that mimics the EC surface. This protein may play a role in modulating plasmin generation on cell surfaces.     

Interaction of tissue-type plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 on the surface of endothelial cells

The site of the reaction between plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) was investigated in cultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In conditioned medium from endothelial cells, two forms of a plasminogen activator-specific inhibitor can be demonstrated: an active form that readily binds to and inhibits plasminogen activators and an immunologically related quiescent form which has no anti-activator activity but which can be activated by denaturation. In conditioned medium, only a few percent of PAI-1 is the active form. However, the addition of increasing concentrations of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) or urokinase to confluent endothelial cells produced a saturable (3.0 pmol/5 x 10(5) cells), dose-dependent increase of the activator-PAI-1 complex in the conditioned medium even in the presence of actinomycin D or cycloheximide. This resulted also in a dose-dependent decrease of the residual PAI activity measured by reverse fibrin autography both in the conditioned medium and cell extracts. Short-time exposure of endothelial cells to a large amount of t-PA caused almost complete depletion of all cell-associated PAI activity. Although there was no detectable PAI activity even after activation of PAI by denaturants or antigen in the culture medium at 4 degrees C without the addition of t-PA, the addition of t-PA at 4 degrees C not only resulted in the formation of 70% of the amount of the t-PA.PAI complex in conditioned medium at 37 degrees C, but also induced PAI-1 antigen in a time and dose-dependent manner in the conditioned medium. Moreover, 125I-labeled t-PA immobilized on Sepharose added directly to endothelial cells formed a complex with PAI-1 in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, no detectable complex was formed with PAI-1 when Sepharose-immobilized 125I-labeled t-PA was added to endothelial cells under conditions in which the added t-PA could not contact the cells directly but other proteins could pass freely by the use of a Transwell. All these results suggest that a "storage pool" on the surface of endothelial cells or the extracellular matrix produced by endothelial cells contains almost all the active PAI-1, and reaction between PA and PAI-1 mainly occurs on the endothelial cell membranes, resulting in a decrease of the conversion of active PAI-1 to the quiescent form.