Abstract
Human seminal plasma (SP) has been known to contain both growth-inhibitory and -stimulatory factors. We attempted to identify a factor that inhibited DNA synthesis in some metastatic prostate cancer cell lines. The SP factor was sensitive to digestion by trypsin, but its activity increased after boiling or dialysis against 1 m acetic acid, by 3- to 4-fold. The SP factor was partially purified using a cation-exchange resin. Apparent molecular mass determination by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed it to be a Mr 25,000 protein, and Mr 13,000 after reduction. This protein strongly inhibited DNA synthesis in two metastatic androgen-independent human prostatic carcinoma cell lines (PC3 and DU145) and the Dunning R3327G rat prostatic adenocarcinoma. It was ineffective on androgen-dependent LNCaP cells. The proliferation-inhibiting activity of this SP protein was specifically and completely abolished by a neutralizing anti-transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) antiserum. Furthermore, immunoblot analysis using the anti-TGF-β antiserum showed the similarity of this protein to TGF-β. The maximum concentration of this protein in SP was 165 ± 11.7 ng/ml (mean ± SD), of which only one-fourth may be present in active form under normal conditions. Identification of a TGF-β-like protein in SP might also explain the variety of growth and immune modulation properties of human SP.
Footnotes
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↵1 Funded in part by the Weeks Endowment Fund, Department of Urology, University of Miami.
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2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Urology (M-800), University of Miami School of Medicine, P. O. Box 016960, Miami, FL 33101.
- Received July 10, 1992.
- Accepted August 31, 1992.
- ©1992 American Association for Cancer Research.