Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein-3 stimulates prostate carcinoma cell proliferation via an IGF-dependent mechanism. Role of serine proteases.

Insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins (IGFBPs) modulate IGF action at cellular level, through either inhibition or potentiation, and they also have intrinsic activity that is independent of their binding to IGFs. In prostate carcinoma (PC-3) cells, which are capable of growth for several days in serum-free medium, non-glycosylated recombinant human IGFBP-3 (rhIGFBP-3) had a biphasic mitogenic effect, stimulation being dose-dependent up to 20 ng/ml, followed by progressive depression down to zero stimulation at 150-200 ng/ml. This mitogenic effect was not intrinsic activity, but involved IGF-II secreted by the cells, since stimulation was abolished in the presence of anti-type 1 IGF receptor antibody (alpha IR-3). Western ligand- and immunoblot analysis of the culture media revealed several IGFBP species, in particular IGFBP-3 which exhibited an electrophoretic profile characteristic of limited proteolysis. The amounts of the proteolytic fragments increased in parallel with the concentrations of added rhIGFBP-3, but a large amount of intact protein remained at the highest concentrations added. When a serine protease inhibitor, 4-(2-aminoethyl)-benzenesulphonyl fluoride (Pefabloc SC), was added at concentrations demonstrated to be non-toxic to the cells, IGFBP-3 proteolysis was diminished and rhIGFBP-3-induced stimulation of proliferation was suppressed. Conversely, in the presence of plasminogen transformed to plasmin by urokinase secreted by the cells, proliferation stimulated by rhIGFBP-3 and its proteolysis were enhanced. Our results suggest that the biphasic mitogenic effect of rhIGFBP-3 on PC-3 cells reflects changes in the availability to the cells of the IGF-II they secrete. This availability depends on the extent of IGFBP-3 proteolysis (which promotes release of bound IGF-II) and on the proportion of intact forms (which sequestrate secreted IGF-II).