Glycosylation is essential for efficient secretion but not for permeability-enhancing activity of vascular permeability factor (vascular endothelial growth factor).

The hyperpermeability of the microvasculature supplying solid tumors is largely attributable to a heterodimeric Mr 34,000-43,000 tumor-secreted protein, vascular permeability factor. Upon reduction, the vascular permeability factor secreted by line 10 tumor cells is resolved by SDS-PAGE into 3 discrete bands of Mr 24,000, 19,500, and 15,000. We demonstrate here that line 10 vascular permeability factor is an N-linked glycoprotein. Nonglycosylated vascular permeability factor migrates on reduced SDS-PAGE as two bands of Mr 20,000 and 15,000. Pulse-chase studies demonstrated that all three chains of native vascular permeability factor were secreted rapidly following synthesis and at equal rates, with a cellular half-retention time of approximately 37 min. When glycosylation was prevented by tunicamycin, individual bands of nonglycosylated vascular permeability factor were also secreted at equivalent rates, but much more slowly (approximately 60 min) than native glycoprotein. Both glycosylated and nonglycosylated forms of vascular permeability factor were equally potent at increasing dermal vessel permeability.