Increased carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II concentration in rat hepatomas: immunological evidence.

Carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II (glutamine hydrolyzing, EC 6.3.5.5) (synthetase II), the rate-limiting enzyme of de novo uridine monophosphate biosynthesis, was purified 230-fold to apparent homogeneity from rapidly growing rat hepatoma 3924A. The antiserum (produced in rabbits against purified hepatoma 3924A enzyme) yielded a single precipitin line with crude and partially purified synthetase II of normal liver and three hepatomas. In hepatomas of slow (20), intermediate (7787), and rapid (3924A) growth rates, synthetase II activity was elevated 1.5-, 2.3-, and 7.9-fold, and the amount of antiserum required to inactivate the activity was 1.6-, 2.3-, and 8.2-fold higher than that in normal liver. Thus the increase in synthetase II activity in the tumors was due to an elevation in the amount of the synthetase II enzyme protein.