Cyclic adenosine 3':5-monophosphate receptor proteins in hormone-dependent and -independent rat mammary tumors.

The molecular species of cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cAMP) receptor proteins (high-affinity-binding proteins) present in hormone-dependent and -independent rat mammary carcinomas were identified and characterized. Three major types of cAMP receptor proteins, with molecular weights of 39,000, 48,000, and 56,000, specifically incorporated the photoaffinity label, 8-azido-cyclic adenosine 3':5'-[32P]monophosphate and were identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the tumor cytosols. The M.W. 48,000 and 56,000 receptor proteins appeared to be the regulatory subunits of cAMP-dependent protein kinase types I and II, respectively, and the M.W. 39,000 receptor protein was the proteolytic fragment of the M.W. 56,000 receptor protein. The relative amounts of these cAMP receptor proteins varied from one tumor type to another and showed no correlation with respect to the hormone dependency of tumors. Under two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, however, the M.W. 56,000 receptor protein from hormone-dependent tumors migrated as a doublet and shifted to either a more acidic or more basic charge than that of the receptor protein of hormone-dependent tumors. The alteration of the charge of the receptor did not affect the affinity for cAMP binding, because both hormone-dependent and hormone-independent tumor cytosols exhibited the dissociation constant for cAMP of approximately 10(-8) M. The M.W. 56,000 cAMP receptor protein from hormone-dependent tumors exhibited self-phosphorylation, but that from hormone-independent tumors did not. The diethylaminoethyl cellulose elution profiles of cAMP receptor proteins also differed between hormone-dependent and -independent tumors; cAMP binding activity from hormone-dependent tumors coeluted with cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity, whereas most of the cAMP binding activity from hormone-independent tumors eluted at a higher ionic strength than did cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity. These results suggest that the charge alteration of cAMP receptor proteins, which appears to occur at a site remote from that of cAMP binding, may be associated with the hormone independency of mammary tumors.