New assay for the plasminogen activator activity of transformed cells

Activation of plasminogen to plasmin by a protease associated with the outer membrane of Escherichia coli

Preparations of outer membrane of two strains of Escherichia coli contain a protease that can activate the serum zymogen plasminogen to the active protease plasmin. The amount of plasmin formed is proportional to the membrane concentration. The kinetics of plasminogen activation are linear and obey the Michaelis--Menten rate equation. The Km(app) for the activation of dog plasminogen by E. coli outer membrane preparations is similar to the Km(app) for the activation of dog plasminogen by human urokinase. The E. coli enzyme is active in a membrane-associated form, as opposed to a secreted or soluble form, and is most likely a serine protease because it is inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate. It is also inhibited from activating plasminogen by p-nitrophenyl-p-guanidinobenzoate and aprotinin. Analysis of the activation of plasminogen by the E. coli enzyme by NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the cleavage of plasminogen to plasmin was as specific as that exhibited in the activation of plasminogen to plasmin by urokinase. Possible in vivo roles for this plasminogen activator in E. coli outer membranes are discussed.

Sensitive assay for plasminogen activator of transformed cells

A sensitive in situ assay for the plasminogen activator of transformed cells is described; it uses the fluorogenic molecule 3',6'-bis(4-guanidinobenzoyloxy)-5-(N'-4-carboxylphenyl)thioureidospiro[isobenz ofuran-1(3H),9'-[9H]xanthen]-3-one. This fluorescein derivative is an excellent active-site titrant of the esterase activity of plasmin. When transformed cells are incubated with purified plasminogen and the resulting plasmin is titrated with the fluorogenic substrate, the amount of plasmin formed is linearly proportional to time and cell number. The assay is sensitive enough to detect quantitatively the plasminogen activator activity of as few as 250 transformed cells. This substrate should be useful in studying quantitatively the correlation between increased levels of plasminogen activator activity and cellular transformation and as a general active site titrant of serine proteases.