Hyaluronidase in sera of tumour-bearing nude mice.

Cancer cell lines often secrete hyaluronidase, suggesting that this enzyme could be used as a marker of growing tumours. We have measured hyaluronidase in the sera of non-grafted mice and mice grafted with human tumour-derived hyaluronidase-secreting H460M and SA87 cells or non-secreting CB 193 cells. Mouse serum hyaluronidase was measured at pH 3.8 using the enzyme-linked sorbent assay (ELSA) technique by reference to human serum whose activity at pH 3.8 was determined by the Reissig technique. The serum hyaluronidase in non-grafted mice ranged from 310-520 mU l(-1) (mean+/-SD 432+/-70 mU l(-1), median 440 mU l(-1)). Hyaluronidase increased in the sera of tumour-bearing mice grafted with H460M cells or with SA87 cells, but not in the sera of mice grafted with CB 193 cells. Serum hyaluronidase activity in H460M or SA87 tumour-bearing mice correlated with the tumour mass, increased with time, and decreased after tumour removal. Zymography detected two different hyaluronidase forms in the sera of non-grafted mice: type 1 had only one hyaluronidase band and type 2 had five different bands. In both types, enzyme augmentation in tumour-bearing mice correlated with the presence of an additional enzyme band that was not seen in normal sera and that migrated as the cancer cell enzyme did; there was no augmentation of the normal isoform(s). These results show that serum hyaluronidase can be used to follow the development of tumours in mice grafted with hyaluronidase-secreting cells.