2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase activity in human mammary tumors and its potential correlation with tumor growth or hormonal responsiveness.

Since interferon inducible 2',5'-oligoadenylate (2,5An) synthetase activity is present in a wide variety of cells and is affected by various hormonal conditions, primary human mammary tumor extracts were examined for the constitutive presence of this enzyme and its possible relationship with the various hormonal receptor levels in these tissues. Further, since 2,5An synthetase has been implicated as a possible factor controlling cell replication, we assayed DNA polymerases in these same tumor extracts to determine any correlation between 2,5An synthetase activity and growth potential. A survey of the soluble extracts from 24 different surgically removed human mammary tumor specimens for 2,5An synthetase activity indicated that this enzyme was indeed present in all extracts but in widely varying amounts of activity (31-2,666 nmol adenosine 5'-phosphate incorporated/mg protein). The 2,5An synthesized in the enzymic reactions ranged in size from di- to hexamers, with trimers being the abundant 2,5An in the majority of tumors. A comparison of the assay results for estrogen and progestin receptors with 2,5An synthesis indicated that high 2,5An synthetase activity was found in both estrogen or progestin positive and negative tumors. Thus, 2,5An synthetase activity was unrelated (r = 0.329 and 0.077, respectively, for estrogen and progestin receptors) to the hormonal receptor content of these tumors. A similar comparison was made between 2,5An synthesis and assay results for the activities of DNA polymerase alpha, regarded as the principal DNA replicating enzyme, and DNA polymerase beta, regarded as the DNA repair enzyme. Although the activity of the polymerases were also quite varied, the majority of tumor extracts demonstrated higher alpha polymerase activity with no parallel difference between the alpha and beta enzymes. There was, however, a weak correlation (r = 0.751) between 2,5An synthetase activity and DNA polymerase alpha activity among the tumors examined. Less of a correlation existed with DNA polymerase beta activity (r = 0.600). These results suggested that the potential of the tumors to synthesize 2,5An was unrelated to their hormonal responsiveness and only weakly related to their growth potential reflected by DNA polymerase alpha activity.