Synthesis and secretion of proteins resembling platelet-derived growth factor by human glioblastoma and fibrosarcoma cells in culture.

Immunoprecipitation of proteins extracted from metabolically labeled human glioblastoma and fibrosarcoma cells with antiserum to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) showed that these cells express and secrete proteins that are recognized specifically by the antiserum. The molecular masses of immunoprecipitated proteins in the lysates of the malignant cells ranged from 16 kDa to 140 kDa. Both cell lines secreted a 31-kDa polypeptide with structural, immunological, and biological properties similar to those of human PDGF. These cell lines were shown to synthesize a 4.4-kb mRNA that contained sequences from all the six currently identified exons of the human c-sis gene. These data suggest that the PDGF-like proteins in the two mesenchyme-derived transformed cells are encoded at least in part by the c-sis locus.