Effect of monensin on secretion of t-PA from melanoma (Bowes).

The secretion of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) from melanoma cells (Bowes) was investigated with or without monensin treatment. Monensin inhibited secretion of t-PA from the cells to the medium in a dose-and time-dependent manner. The inhibition was accompanied by an intracellular accumulation of t-PA. Electrophoretic enzymography of the cell homogenate showed the main lytic zone at 72 kDa, which reacted with the IgG of anti-t-PA. Analysis of the cell organelles using ultracentrifugation with a discontinuous sucrose density gradient revealed that the activity and the antigen of t-PA were observed near the discontinuous phase of the sucrose gradient. Analysis of 3H-mannose- and 35S-methionine-labeled t-PA in the cell organelles revealed that the radioactivity of each was increased by monensin treatment, and that such treatment increased the ratio of 3H-mannose-related glycoprotein to 35S-methionine-related protein. The sugar chain of intracellular t-PA was analyzed with endoglycosidase H and N-glycanase, which reduced the molecular weight of t-PA by 4.5-10 kDa, indicating the intracellular presence of a high-mannose type sugar chain and a complex-type sugar chain of t-PA. t-PA secreted from the monensin-treated cells possesses a high-mannose type sugar chain only. Therefore, monensin alters the secretion of t-PA by abnormal glycosylation.