The limiting effect of transfer RNA's on the rate of protein synthesis in cell extracts of rapidly growing tumors.

Using crude cell extracts from rapidly growing animal and human tumors, we found that (a) the addition of homologous transfer RNA (tRNA) to these extracts stimulated polypeptide synthesis two-to threefold, while addition of heterologous tRNA did not have a similar effect; (b) addition of homologous as well as heterologous ribosomal RNA was also stimulatory; and (c) both stimulatory effects were additive. The possibility that the effect of homologous tRNA could be mediated by contaminating material (such as the "translational control" RNA) seems to be rulted out by experiments with highly purified tRNA preparations, which did not contain even traces of 18 S, 7 S, 5 S, and smaller than 4S RNA's. Control experiments showed that no loss of tRNA occurred either during preparation of the cell extracts or under the conditions of in vitro protein synthesis. The results obtained suggest possible occurrence of a deficiency in specific isoaccepting tRNA's in rapidly growing solid tumors.