Induction of fibrinolytic activity in HeLa cells by phorbol myristate acetate. Tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen and mRNA augmentation require intermediate protein biosynthesis.

The highly increased fibrinolytic activity of HeLa cells, treated with the tumor promoting phorbol ester, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), correlates with equally increased levels of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) antigen in the conditioned media of these cells and concomitantly increased steady state levels of t-PA-specific mRNA. The effect of PMA on t-PA mRNA levels is completely blocked by pretreatment of the cells with the inhibitor of translation, cycloheximide, indicating that it requires the biosynthesis of at least one protein intermediate. In contrast, mRNA of the oncogene product c-myc can be induced for a brief period immediately following serum starvation in the presence and absence of PMA, and in the presence of cycloheximide. Our results suggest that increased t-PA biosynthesis in HeLa cells, probably through an increased rate of translation of the t-PA gene, forms part of the "late" events of the pleiotropic response to tumor promoters.