Increased expression of cathepsins L and B and decreased activity of their inhibitors in metastatic, ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells.

We previously found that the T24 Ha-ras oncogene induces metastatic ability in NIH 3T3 cells and that this change depends on expression of the ras oncogene. As part of our studies on mechanisms by which ras may induce metastasis, we investigated expression and activity of two cysteine proteinases, cathepsin L (major excreted protein) and cathepsin B, as well as cysteine proteinase inhibitor activity, in ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells. In a series of cel lines that expressed differing amounts of ras, we found a good correlation between levels of ras expression and cathepsin L expression (r = 0.80). There was also a good correlation between secreted procathepsin L protein levels and experimental metastatic ability (r = 0.88). We found a similar but less strong association between cathepsin B levels and metastatic ability in these cells (r = 0.76 and r = 0.72 for 2.2-kb and 4.1-kb transcripts, respectively). Functional cathepsin L plus B activity (both secreted and cell-associated) was found to be higher in ras-transformed cells and was dependent on cell confluency in culture. Coupled with increased expression and activity of cysteine proteinases, ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells showed reduced cysteine proteinase inhibitor activity. We conclude that the balance between expression of cysteine proteinases and their inhibitors may be coregulated by ras expression. Our results suggest that ras-induced increases in production of degradative enzymes such as cathepsins L and B, along with decreased activities of their inhibitors, may contribute to the increased malignant properties of ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells.