Proteolytic enzymes in tumor metastasis. I. Plasminogen activator in clones of Lewis lung carcinoma and T10 sarcoma.

Plasminogen activator (PA; urokinase) levels were studied in metastatic and nonmetastatic clones of the Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) and of the T10 sarcoma. Tests of clones grown in vitro revealed that the cell content and secretion of PA correlated positively with the metastatic capacity of the clones of both tumors. When cell-associated activities were examined in cloned cell populations grown subcutaneously in vivo, the apparent activities in the solid tumors produced by low-metastatic clones were equal to or even higher than those in solid tumors produced by high-metastatic clones. This finding was attributed to the observation that solid tumors produced by low-metastatic clones, but not those produced by high-metastatic clones, were highly infiltrated with macrophages. Subsequent tests indicated that the ip inoculation of X-irradiated or mitomycin-treated tumor cells of low-metastatic clones elicited a significantly greater peritoneal infiltration of macrophages than did tumor cells of high-metastatic clones. Such "tumor-associated" macrophages manifested high levels of PA, whereas resident (nonactivated) peritoneal macrophages did not. These findings suggest that although PA may cause the initial detachment from the local tumor of both nonmetastatic (via the macrophage PA) and metastatic cells (via their own PA), the PA secreted by the metastatic cells may enable them to complete subsequent stages of the metastatic process that may be PA-dependent.