Relationship between protease activity and a sialoglycopeptide inhibitor isolated from bovine brain

Purification and stability characterization of a cell regulatory sialoglycopeptide inhibitor

Previous attempts to physically separate the cell cycle inhibitory and protease activities in preparations of a purified cell regulatory sialoglycopeptide (CeReS) inhibitor were largely unsuccessful. Gradient elution of the inhibitor preparation from a DEAE HPLC column separated the cell growth inhibitor from the protease, and the two activities have been shown to be distinct and non-overlapping. The additional purification increased the specific biological activity of the CeReS preparation by approximately two-fold. The major inhibitory fraction that eluted from the DEAE column was further analyzed by tricine-SDS-PAGE and microbore reverse phase HPLC and shown to be homogeneous in nature. Two other fractions separated by DEAE HPLC, also devoid of protease activity, were shown to be inhibitory to cell proliferation and most likely represented modified relatives of the CeReS inhibitor. The highly purified CeReS was chemically characterized for amino acid and carbohydrate composition and the role of the carbohydrate in cell proliferation inhibition, stability, and protease resistance was assessed.

Negative regulators of cell proliferation

Cell proliferation is governed by the influence of both mitogens and inhibitors. Although cell contact has long been thought to play a fundamental role in cell cycling regulation, and negative regulators have long been suspected to exist, their isolation and purification has been complicated by a variety of technical difficulties. Nevertheless, over recent years an ever-expanding list of putative negative regulators have emerged. In many cases, their biological inhibitory activities are consistent with density-dependent growth inhibition. Most likely their interactions with mitogenic agents, at an intracellular level, are responsible for either mitotic arrest or continued cell cycling. A review of naturally occurring cell growth inhibitors is presented with an emphasis on those factors shown to be residents of the cell surface membrane. Particular attention is focused on a cell surface sialoglycopeptide, isolated from intact bovine cerebral cortex cells, which has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of an unusually wide range of target cells. The glycopeptide arrest cells obtained from diverse species, both fibroblasts and epithelial cells, and a broad variety of transformed cells. Signal transduction events and a limited spectrum of cells that are refractory to the sialoglycopeptide have provided insight into the molecular events mediated by this cell surface inhibitor.

Abrogation of the mitogenic activity of bombesin by a cell surface sialoglycopeptide growth inhibitor

The ability of a cell surface sialoglycopeptide (SGP) growth inhibitor to abrogate the mitogenic activity of bombesin, in serum-free medium, was investigated. The SGP was shown to be a potent antagonist of bombesin-induced DNA synthesis as 2.7 nM of the inhibitor completely blocked the mitogenic activity of 5.0 nM of bombesin. Exposure of 3T3 cells to bombesin for only 10 hr was sufficient to initiate the induction of DNA synthesis 10 hr later. Kinetic studies demonstrated that the SGP was able to block bombesin-induced DNA synthesis only when added within 2 hr after exposure of the cells to the mitogen. The SGP inhibitor blocked bombesin mitogenesis at a post-receptor, intracellular, early event in the signal cascade.

Inhibition of epidermal growth factor-stimulated DNA synthesis by a bovine sialoglycopeptide inhibitor occurs at an intracellular level

The control of cell proliferation involves the complex interaction between growth factors and growth inhibitors. We have examined this interaction with the mitogen epidermal growth factor (EGF) and a recently purified 18 kD, pI 3, sialoglycopeptide that reversibly inhibits cellular metabolism of a variety of cells. The sialoglycopeptide was a very potent inhibitor of EGF action; 0.22 nM of the inhibitor completely blocked the mitogenic effect of 1.60 nM of EGF. The sialoglycopeptide, however, did not affect the binding of EGF to 3T3 cells. Neither the mixed affinities (0.11-1.9 nM) of binding nor the total number of receptors (50,000 receptors/cell) for EGF were altered by the addition of the sialoglycopeptide. In addition, competitive binding experiments demonstrated the specificity of inhibitor binding to 3T3 cells and also showed that EGF and the sialoglycopeptide did not share the same receptor, suggesting that the inhibitor blocked EGF action at a postreceptor, intracellular event in the signal cascade. We further demonstrated that the sialoglycopeptide had to be added within 2.5 hr after EGF to block effectively the stimulation of DNA synthesis by the growth factor, suggesting that the inhibitor blocked EGF stimulation at a relatively early step in the signal transduction mechanism.