Effect of vitamin A on plasminogen activator synthesis by chick embryo fibroblasts.

Low concentrations of Vitamin A stimulated plasminogen activator synthesis (PA) in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF). It caused a dose dependent and reversible increase in PA synthesis in both normal CEF and CEF infected with a temperature sensitive mutant of Rous Sarcoma virus (RSV-Ts68). Both induction and deinduction of PA could be inhibited by Actinomycin D. Vitamin A also accentuated the morphological changes associated with transformation in the Rous Sarcoma virus infected cells. The effects of Vitamin A on PA synthesis were essentially similar to those of the known tumour promoter, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Both Vitamin A and PMA were found to act synergistically with sarcoma gene expression as far as PA synthesis was concerned.