Neurotrophic action of gliostatin on cortical neurons. Identity of gliostatin and platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor.

Gliostatin is a polypeptide growth inhibitor of apparent M(r) = 100,000 with a homodimeric structure comprising two 50-kDa subunits, acting on astrocyte as well as astrocytoma cells (Asai, K., Hirano, T., Kaneko, S., Moriyama, A., Nakanishi, K., Isobe, I., Eksioglu, Y.Z., and Kato, T. (1992) J. Neurochem., 59, 307-317). The amino acid sequences of 13 tryptic peptides including the amino terminus were completely identical to those of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) (Ishikawa, F., Miyazono, K., Hellman, U., Drexler, H., Wernstedt, C., Hagiwara, K., Usuki, K., Takaku, F., Risau, W., and Heldin, C.-H. (1989) Nature 338, 557-562). Gliostatin and PD-ECGF, purified from human placenta, shared growth inhibition on glial cells and growth promotion on endothelial cells, and exhibited similar values for half-maximal dose of glial growth inhibition (ID50 = 1.3 nM) and the half-maximal concentration of endothelial growth promotion (EC50 = 1.0 nM), suggesting that both factors evoke the biological actions through an identical receptor on each cell surface. We have further demonstrated evidence of a novel neurotrophic action of gliostatin/PD-ECGF toward embryonic rat cortical neurons in culture. The half-maximal concentration of gliostatin/PD-ECGF for neurotrophic action was 0.3 nM. All actions on glial, endothelial, and neuronal cells, were abolished by a monoclonal antibody against gliostatin. These data indicate that gliostatin/PD-ECGF may play important roles on development and regeneration of the central nervous system and may also involve the induction of angiogenesis for the formation of blood brain barrier.     

A platelet factor stimulating the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells: Partial purification and characterization

Platelets have been shown to contain a novel growth factor that stimulates the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells in vitro. The factor potently stimulated both DNA synthesis and proliferation rate in serum-deprived endothelial cells. Gel exclusion chromatography showed at least two peaks of activity on endothelial cells, the major peak being at an apparent molecular weight of 20 000. Isoelectric focusing revealed that the pI of the factor was 4.0-4.8. It was adsorbed to a column of DEAE ion exchange chromatography and eluted with a salt gradient. The factor was heat-labile and trypsin-sensitive. The activity was not destroyed by a reducing agent including dithiothreitol. This factor stimulated the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells but was found to be inactive against normal rat kidney fibroblasts.     

Purification of a murine leukemia inhibitory factor from Krebs ascites cells

A factor capable of inducing terminal differentiation in the murine myeloid leukemia cell line M1 has been purified to apparent homogeneity from the medium conditioned by Krebs II ascites tumor cells. The factor, termed leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a single chain glycoprotein of apparent Mr 58,000 which induces differentiation and inhibits proliferation of the M1 cell line but not the WEHI-3B D+ murine myeloid leukemic cell line and has no detectable proliferative activity on normal myeloid progenitor cells. It was purified using four successive high-efficiency purification steps--anion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose; cation-exchange chromatography on CM-Sepharose; affinity chromatography on lentil lectin-Sepharose; and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a phenyl-silica matrix--to a specific biological activity of approximately 1.25 X 10(8) units/mg with an overall purification of 12,000-fold and a yield of 73% for the activity failing to bind to DEAE-Sepharose. Sufficient quantities of the factor (12 micrograms, 200 pmol) have been purified to allow structural and functional analysis of the molecule and comparison with other know differentiation inducers.     

Purification to apparent homogeneity of a factor stimulating the growth of multiple lineages of hemopoietic cells

A glycoprotein that stimulates the proliferation of multiple hemopoietic stem and progenitor cell types was purified to apparent homogeneity. The factor, termed P cell-stimulating factor (PSF), was assayed by its ability to support the growth of murine factor-dependent hemopoietic cell lines operationally termed persisting cells (P cells). PSF was purified 50,000-fold from serum-free medium conditioned by the myelomonocytic cell line WEHI-3B by sequential ammonium sulfate precipitation, phenyl boronate chromatography, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100, neuraminidase treatment, Mono Q anion exchange chromatography, reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography on a C18 silica column, and two steps of high performance gel permeation chromatography on a TSK 3000 SW column operated under first neutral and then acidic solvent conditions. Although purified PSF could not be detected on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels stained with silver, following electrophoresis of purified PSF labeled with iodine-125, autoradiography showed only a single broad band of Mr = 30,000. This labeled band corresponded to the profile of PSF activity eluted from polyacrylamide gel slices. After reduction, labeled PSF had a slightly higher Mr of 32,000, although reduction resulted in loss of 98% of PSF activity, thus suggesting that the integrity of internal disulfide bond(s) was required for activity. When purified PSF was chromatographed on a TSK 3000 SW column under denaturing conditions in 0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, the single peak of absorbance at 280 nm coincided with a sharp peak of biological activity. The following unique NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified PSF was obtained: NH2ALA -SER-Ile-Ser-X-X-Asp-Thr-His-Arg-Leu-Thr-Arg-. The concentration of PSF required for half-maximal stimulation of P cell growth was estimated as 1.3 X 10(-13) M or 4 pg/ml. The availability of purified PSF will allow rigorous examination of the hypothesis that a single molecule acts on multiple hemopoietic cell lineages.     

Purification of a factor inhibiting differentiation from conditioned medium of nondifferentiating mouse myeloid leukemia cells

Mouse myeloid leukemic M1 cells are induced to differentiate by various differentiation inducers. Activity for inhibition of induction of differentiation of M1 cells (I-factor activity) was detected in conditioned medium of variant M1 cell clones that were resistant to differentiation inducers, and this I-factor activity was shown to be closely associated with resistance of the cells to differentiation inducers. In this work, the I-factor was purified to apparent homogeneity from conditioned medium of resistant M1 cells. The purification procedure consisted of ammonium sulfate precipitation, CM-Sepharose CL-6B, Sephadex G-200, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography on a C18 hydrophobic support, and high-performance liquid chromatography on a gel filtration column. The factor was analyzed by radioiodination, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and autoradiography. The purified factor gave a single band of protein with a molecular weight of 68,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis which coincided with its biological activity. The concentration of I-factor required for 50% inhibition of dexamethasone-induced differentiation of M1 cells was 24 pM. At its effective concentration it had no effect on cell proliferation, and even at 1.2 nM it did not inhibit colony formation of normal bone marrow cells, suggesting that it was distinct from the inhibitor of normal precursors of macrophages and/or granulocytes.     

Purification and characterization of a growth factor from guinea pig harderian gland

A polypeptide growth factor, Harderian gland-derived growth factor (HGDGF), has been purified approximately 43,000-fold from guinea pig Harderian gland by column chromatography on TSK gel DEAE-5PW, blue-Sepharose CL-6B, and Superose 12. The yield was approximately 10%. The Superose 12 fraction was further purified by Aquapore BU-300 reversed-phase chromatography to apparent homogeneity. HGDGF was eluted from TSK gel DEAE-5PW at 0.20-0.35 M NaCl, with a linear gradient of 0.15-0.80 M NaCl and at 2.20 M NaCl from blue-Sepharose CL-6B. The activity of HGDGF toward human embryonic cells (TIG-3) was quantitated, [3H]thymidine incorporation for 48 h being stimulated in a linear and dose-dependent manner. Purified HGDGF has a molecular weight of approximately 13,000, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and molecular sieve column chromatography. HGDGF is labile to treatment with SH reagents or acetic acid. Both trypsin digestion and boiling decrease the activity of HGDGF. Its pI is 5.1. HGDGF stimulates the multiplication of TIG-3 cells but has no effect on human endothelial cells K2T1 or A2T2 which require fibroblast growth factor for growth. HGDGF appears to differ from other growth factors, suggesting that it is a previously undescribed growth factor.     

Purification of a factor inducing differentiation in murine myelomonocytic leukemia cells. Identification as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

A naturally occurring inducer of terminal differentiation in a murine myelomonocytic leukemia cell line (WEHI-3B) was purified to apparent homogeneity from medium conditioned by lungs from mice injected with bacterial endotoxin. The factor was purified over 400,000-fold by sequential fractionation using salting out chromatography, chromatography on phenyl-Sepharose, gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-60 in 1 M acetic acid, reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography on a phenyl-silica column, and high performance liquid chromatography on a gel filtration column. During the first two steps, the differentiation-inducing factor was separated completely from a known proliferative regulator for normal myeloid cells, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, but it co-purified through all remaining steps with a distinct granulocyte-specific colony-stimulating factor. The purified factor showed a single protein band of Mr = 24,000-25,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels coincident with both differentiation-inducing and granulocyte colony-stimulating activity. The granulocyte-specific colony-stimulating factor was active on WEHI-3B cells and normal granulocytic progenitor cells in vitro at the same half-maximally active concentration of 3 X 10(-12) M.     

Isolation and characterization of disaggregatase from Methanosarcina mazei LYC

At certain stages in its growth cycle, Methanosarcina mazei produces an enzyme (disaggregatase) that causes aggregates to separate into single cells. M. mazei S-6 and LYC both produce this enzymatic activity, although the specificities of activities differ. The disaggregatase of M. mazei S-6 had little effect on strain LYC cells, but the disaggregatase of M. mazei LYC disaggregated both strain LYC and strain S-6 cells. The disaggregatase of M. mazei LYC was purified by column chromatography, and it apparently consisted of two similar subunits with a combined molecular size of about 180,000 Da. Strain S-6 culture supernatants contained 14 U of activity per liter when activity was measured as uronic acids released from purified cell wall material. When the activity was quantified as the release of uronic acids from boiled M. mazei S-6 cells, the highest activity was found at pH 4.7 and at 35 degrees C.     

Isolation and characterization of disaggregatase from Methanosarcina mazei LYC.

At certain stages in its growth cycle, Methanosarcina mazei produces an enzyme (disaggregatase) that causes aggregates to separate into single cells. M. mazei S-6 and LYC both produce this enzymatic activity, although the specificities of activities differ. The disaggregatase of M. mazei S-6 had little effect on strain LYC cells, but the disaggregatase of M. mazei LYC disaggregated both strain LYC and strain S-6 cells. The disaggregatase of M. mazei LYC was purified by column chromatography, and it apparently consisted of two similar subunits with a combined molecular size of about 180,000 Da. Strain S-6 culture supernatants contained 14 U of activity per liter when activity was measured as uronic acids released from purified cell wall material. When the activity was quantified as the release of uronic acids from boiled M. mazei S-6 cells, the highest activity was found at pH 4.7 and at 35 degrees C.     

Isolation, purification, and partial characterization of suppressin, a novel inhibitor of cell proliferation

Pituitary tissues were investigated for the presence of regulatory molecules that would alter the function of lymphoid cells. A novel endogenous polypeptide inhibitor of basal and mitogen-stimulated splenocyte DNA synthesis and proliferation, suppressin, was isolated from bovine pituitary glands. Suppressin is a potent inhibitor of basal and mitogen-stimulated splenocyte proliferation at picomole and nanomole concentrations with 50% inhibition occurring 2.8 x 10(-9) M. Suppressin was purified to apparent homogeneity using sequential (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography, and preparative native gel electrophoresis. Biochemical characterizations of suppressin showed that this inhibitory molecule was a monomeric polypeptide with (i) a Mr = 63,000 and (ii) a pI of 8.1. Finally, metabolic labeling studies using a rat pituitary tumor cell line, GH3, showed that suppressin was synthesized de novo and secreted by these cells.     

Characterization and partial purification of human epithelial transforming growth factor

A polypeptide growth factor has been partially purified from medium conditioned by the human adrenocortical carcinoma cell line SW13. This factor, designated h-TGFe, stimulates anchorage-independent growth of the SW13 cells. Similar activity was observed in human milk, and in conditioned media from seven of 14 epithelial cell lines. The SW13-derived activity is stable to low pH and 8M urea but labile to dithiothreitol and 2% sodium dodecyl sulfate. Human TGFe does not bind to heparin and fails to stimulate growth of endothelial cells in monolayer culture. The apparent molecular weight of h-TGFe is 59k by size exclusion chromatography in the presence of 8M urea and the activity binds strongly to cation exchangers. The activity elutes at 15-30% acetonitrile from a C18 reverse-phase column and has been partially purified by using a four-step chromatographic procedure. TGFe appears to be a novel growth factor produced by many epithelial cells and tissues.     

Expression, purification, and bioactivity of human tumstatin from Escherichia coli

Tumstatin is a M(r) 28,000 C-terminal NC1 fragment of type alpha3 (IV) collagen that inhibits pathological angiogenesis and suppresses proliferation of endothelial cells and growth of tumors. We report here high cytoplasmic expression of recombinant human tumstatin in Escherichia coli and its purification, in vitro refolding, and inhibitory activity analysis. Human tumstatin was expressed in the bacterial cytoplasm as an insoluble N-terminal polyhistidine tagged protein, which accounted for more than 30% of total bacterial protein in BL21 (DE3) cells. After extraction and solubilization in guanidine-HCl, recombinant protein was purified to homogeneity using a simple one-step Ni(2+)-chelate affinity chromatography and then refolded by dialysis against acidic pH buffers with gradually decreasing concentrations of denaturant. The renatured recombinant tumstatin could specifically inhibit endothelial cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner, and suppress bFGF-induced angiogenesis in chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane and tumor growth in mouse B16 melanoma xenograft models.     

Isolation of heparin-binding growth factors from bovine, porcine and canine hearts

Fresh bovine, porcine and canine hearts were homogenized and mitogens for mesoderm-derived cells were purified in three different steps. Extraction by two different ammonium sulfate precipitations was followed by cation-exchange chromatography and by heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. A heparin-Sepharose fraction from heart (eluted at 1.1 M NaCl) increased mitotic activity in serum-deprived cultures of porcine aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells, and in human fibroblasts. This mitogenic activity is potentiated by heparin and inhibited by gamma-interferon. The heart mitogenic fraction showed one double peak on HPLC at A215 and one polypeptide band on SDS/PAGE. These peaks and bands were identical to those obtained from bovine brain. The heart acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) showed a positive signal in Western blots using antibodies raised against brain aFGF. Gas-phase amino acid sequencing established that the mitogens were identical to aFGF and the N-terminally truncated aFGF. Extraction in the presence of a protease inhibitor (pepstatin A) produced a higher-molecular mass form of aFGF with a blocked amino terminus. Another mitogen, eluted at 1.6 M NaCl from heparin-Sepharose, reacted with polyclonal antiserum against human recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and showed a 66% (12 from 18 amino acids determined by gas-phase sequencing) similarity with bFGF. This polypeptide increased the mitotic activity of the same cell lines but was more potent than aFGF.     

A lymphocyte blastogenesis inhibitory factor (LBIF) reversibly arrests a human melanoma cell line, A375, at G1 and G2 phases of cell cycle

A lymphocyte blastogenesis inhibitory factor, LBIF, has been found in the culture supernatant of a human macrophage-like cell line, U937. The factor has been purified by fast protein liquid chromatography. Partial amino acid sequencing analysis showed that LBIF was a novel immunoregulatory factor. Recent study has demonstrated that LBIF possesses a remarkable tumor growth inhibitory activity. In this study, the cell growth inhibitory activity of LBIF was characterized on the proliferation of a human melanoma cell line A375 in vitro. LBIF strongly inhibits the proliferation of A375 cells. The inhibitory activity was cytostatic and reversible by Day 5 although the lethal effect became apparent at Day 7. Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry showed that LBIF arrested A375 cells at both G1 and G2/M phases. Mitotic index analysis indicated that A375 cells were arrested in G1 and G2 phases. LBIF function was not attributed to the elevation of intracytoplasmic cyclic-AMP levels. Thus, these results suggest that LBIF plays an important role in controlling cell cycle and there is a similarity between the mechanisms of G1 and G2 arrests in eukaryotic cell proliferation. LBIF-induced reversible cell-cycle arrest of A375 cells can be a useful system to analyze the signal transduction for cell proliferation and cell-cycle arrest.     

Boophilus microplus tick larvae, a rich source of Kunitz type serine proteinase inhibitors

Serine proteinase inhibitors from Boophilus microplus tick larvae (BmTIs) were purified by affinity chromatography on a trypsin-Sepharose column. BmTIs presented molecular weight between M(r) 6200 and 18,400 and inhibitory activity for trypsin, HuPK (human plasma kallikrein) and neutrophil elastase. Using ion exchange chromatography, BmTIs were separated in several protein pools named BmTI-A to BmTI-F and BmTI-1 to BmTI-7. All BmTI forms presented inhibitory activity for trypsin with apparent dissociation constants (K(i)) in the nM range. In this work, we describe the purification of BmTI-D, BmTI-2, and BmTI-3. These three inhibitors affected neutrophil elastase and HuPK with K(i) also in nM range. BmTI-D proved to be the best HuPK inhibitor, while BmTI-3 was more efficient for neutrophil elastase with dissociation constants (K(i)) of 12 and 0.5 nM, respectively. BmTI-D, BmTI-2, and BmTI-3 N-terminal amino acid sequences allowed us to include them into the BPTI-Kunitz type serine proteinase inhibitor family. BmTIs purified on trypsin-Sepharose were also used in a bovine immunization assay, resulting in antibody (anti-BmTIs) production.     

Purification and mechanism of activation of a nerve growth factor-sensitive S6 kinase from PC12 cells

A nerve growth factor (NGF)-sensitive S6 kinase was purified by alkaline lysis of PC12 cells. The activity in lysates from NGF-treated cells was 10-20-fold higher than that from controls. Half-maximal stimulation of the S6 kinase by NGF treatment occurred in approximately 5 min, and the activity returned almost to basal levels by 2 h. A rapid purification method was devised in which crude extract was applied directly to a PBE 94 column after buffer exchange on a PD-10 column (Sephadex G-25 M). The activated S6 kinase was purified at least 673-fold with a recovery of approximately 70%. The S6 kinase has an apparent molecular weight of 45,000 and is highly specific for S6. It is not inhibited by the specific inhibitor of cAMP-dependent protein kinases, or by chlorpromazine or sodium vanadate, nor is it activated by Ca2+/calmodulin. It was inhibited by EGTA, beta-glycerophosphate, or NaF. Phosphorylation occurred solely on serine residues. The S6 kinase activity from control cells and from NGF-treated cells eluted at pH 5.69 and 5.58, respectively, during PBE 94 column chromatography. Pretreatment of crude extract from NGF-stimulated cells with alkaline phosphatase resulted in an elution of the enzyme at the position of S6 kinase from control cells and a concomitant decrease in activity. These results indicate that phosphorylation is involved in the mechanism of S6 kinase activation.     

A novel inhibitor protein of N-myristoyltransferase from Escherichia coli

Myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) catalyzes the covalent attachment of myristate to the N-terminal of the glycine residue of various eukaryotic and viral proteins of diverse functions. Earlier, we have demonstrated that NMT activity is elevated in colon and gall bladder cancer. Attenuation of NMT activity may prove a novel therapeutic protocol for cancer. We report here a novel inhibitor protein of NMT being expressed in Escherichia coli cells containing the human NMT gene on increasing the incubation period from 5 to 24h. The inhibitor protein was purified by SP-Sepharose column chromatography, heat treatment, ammonium sulfate precipitation, and Superose 12 HR/30 FPLC column chromatography. The inhibitor protein had an apparent molecular mass of 10kDa by gel filtration. It inhibited human NMT in a concentration-dependent manner with 50% inhibition at 640+/-4.68nM. The inhibitor protein showed no direct interaction with myristoyl-CoA and demonstrated no demyristoylase or protease activity. Therefore, we conclude that the inhibitor protein acts directly on NMT.     

Comparison of extracellular matrix-degrading activities between 64-kDa and 90-kDa gelatinases purified in inhibitor-free forms from human schwannoma cells.

Two kinds of gelatinases (or type IV collagenases), 90-kDa and 64-kDa gelatinases, were purified in a tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)- or TIMP-2-free form from the serum-free conditioned medium of human schwannoma YST-3 cells, and their activities on extracellular matrix proteins were compared. Sequential chromatographies on a gelatin-Sepharose column, an LCA-agarose column, and a gel filtration column in the presence of 5 M urea yielded 600 micrograms of the 64-kDa enzyme and 45 micrograms of the 90-kDa enzyme from 2.8 liters of the conditioned medium. The purified enzymes showed high gelatinolytic activities without activation by p-aminophenyl mercuric acetate (APMA), indicating that 5 M urea used in the final chromatography not only dissociated the inhibitors from the progelatinases but also activated the proenzymes. The inhibitor-free gelatinases showed a much higher activity than the APMA-activated inhibitor-bound enzymes. The specific activity of the 90-kDa enzyme was nearly 25 times higher than that of the 64-kDa enzyme. The 90-kDa gelatinase hydrolyzed type I collagen as well as native and pepsin-treated type IV collagens at 30 degrees C, while at 37 degrees C it potently hydrolyzed types I, III, and IV collagens but not fibronectin or laminin. The 64-kDa gelatinase showed a similar substrate specificity to that of the 90-kDa enzyme, except that it did not hydrolyze type I collagen and native type IV collagen at 30 degrees C.     

An androgen-dependent subclone derived from a mouse mammary tumor, Shionogi carcinoma 115, secretes a heparin-binding growth factor having an apparent molecular weight of 31,000 in response to androgen.

An androgen-dependent cell line denoted SC2G is a clone of an androgen-dependent mouse mammary tumor, Shionogi Carcinoma 115. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) are stimulatory for the growth of SC2G cells in the absence of androgen. This clone was found to secrete an androgen-induced growth factor mostly eluting at 1.8 M NaCl on a heparin-Sepharose column. This factor was partially purified by chromatography on two consecutive heparin-Sepharose columns followed by cation-exchanging chromatography on an S-Sepharose column from the chemically defined serum-free medium conditioned by SC2G cells in the presence of androgen. The factor was a heat- and acid-labile cationic protein that was inactivated by reduction with dithiothreitol. On sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, most of the growth-promoting activity of this factor was found at approx. 31 kDa under non-reduced conditions. Neither neutralizing antibody against basic-FGF nor that against EGF inhibited the growth-promoting activity of this factor in cell culture, suggesting the factor was distinct from basic FGF or EGF. However, the possibility that the factor was another FGF- or EGF-like growth factor was not excluded.     

A trypsin inhibitor from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cassia obtusifolia</Emphasis> seeds: isolation,characterization and activity against <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pieris rapae</Emphasis>

A trypsin inhibitor was isolated from Cassia obtusifolia by ammonium sulfate precipitation, Sepharose 4B-trypsin affinity and Sephadex G-75 chromatography. The inhibitor consisted of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular mass of 19, 812.55 Da. It was stable from pH 2 to 12 for 24 h, whereas it was unstable either above 70°C for 10 min or under reduced conditions. The inhibitor, which inhibited trypsin activity with an apparent Ki of 0.3 μM, had one reactive site involving a lysine residue. The native inhibitor was resistant to pepsin digestion, whereas the heated inhibitor produced 40% degree of susceptibility. The disulfide linkage and lysine residue were important in maintaining its conformation. Partial amino acid sequence of the purified protein showed a high degree of homology with various members of the Kunitz inhibitor family. Moreover, the inhibitor showed significant inhibitory activity against trypsin-like proteases present in the larval midgut on Pieris rapae and could suppress the growth of larvae.