Serine proteinase inhibitors produced by human melanoma cell lines.

The human melanoma cell lines M21 and MSM-M2 are shown to produce two similar competitive inhibitors of trypsin, a serine proteinase. These proteinase inhibitors inhibited the serine proteinases trypsin and kallikrein with similar efficiency but did not inhibit plasmin (a serine proteinase) or papain (a thiol proteinase). Active synthesis of the inhibitors during cell culture was indicated by the requirement for cell viability, the increase in inhibitory activity of the supernatant with time, and the incorporation of 35S-methionine into the inhibitors. The two inhibitors were stable to heat (70 degrees C) and extremes of pH. Their molecular weights were estimated at 670 and 250 kD, respectively. A screening of the supernatants of five other human melanoma cell lines by HPLC showed that they all released a similar trypsin inhibitory factor not detected in human or bovine serum. The isolation of these proteinase inhibitors facilitates a study of their putative role in tumor growth.