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Purification and Characterization of a Lipid-mobilizing Factor Associated with Cachexia-inducing Tumors in Mice and Humans¹

CRC Nutritional Biochemistry Research Group, Pharmaceutical Sciences Institute, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, United Kingdom

A scheme is described for the purification of a lipid-mobilizing factor from a cachexia-inducing murine tumor (MAC16) using a combination of ion exchange (Mono Q), exclusion (Superose), and hydrophobic (C₈) chromatography. This process yields an active material with an apparent molecular weight of 24,000 with an overall purification of 3,500 from the tumor homogenate and representing 0.005% of the total protein present. The material tends to aggregate to high molecular mass, is acidic (pI < 4), and displays heterogeneity of charge as evidenced by a broad elution profile on ion exchange and exclusion chromatography and multiple peaks on hydrophobic columns. The purified material was heat and alkali (pH 10.4) labile and activity could be completely inhibited by sulfatase, suggesting that the negative charge could arise from sulfate residues. There was no evidence that the material possessed triglyceride lipase activity.

Animals transplanted with the MAC16 tumor and with a delayed weight loss contained in their serum antibodies that recognized a M_r 24,000 band on Western blots. This material copurified with the lipidmobilizing factor. Such antibodies were not present in the serum of mice transplanted with the MAC13 tumor, which does not induce cachexia, suggesting that the antibodies were directed to the induction of cachexia rather than the tumor itself.

Urine from patients with cancer cachexia also contained a lipid-mobilizing factor which adhered to DEAE-cellulose and gave an apparent M_r of 24,000 by exclusion chromatography. Western blotting using serum from MAC16 tumor-bearing animals showed the presence of a band of M_r 24,000 in such fractions, which was not detected using serum from mice bearing the MAC13 tumor. This band was not present in Western blots of urine from normal subjects. The fact that serum from mice bearing the MAC16 tumor can detect the human lipid-mobilizing activity suggests a high degree of structural similarity between the two and raises the possibility that cachexia in humans may be caused by the same species as in the mouse.

¹ This work was supported by Cancer Research Campaign Grant SP1518.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 8/10/94. Accepted 2/ 6/95.

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