Plasminogen activator in normal and tumor-bearing mice

The plasminogen activator levels of a series of murine tumors commonly used in cancer drug screening were determined and compared to the levels found in normal mouse tissues. Tumors high in plasminogen activator included the B16 and colon 26. The Lewis lung and M5076 carcinoma showed an intermediate level of activity, while the plasminogen activator activity in the L1210 leukemia and colon 38 was barely elevated above background. The specific activity of the enzyme (per micrograms protein) in extracts of B16 and colon 26 was three or four times higher than in the most active normal organs surveyed (kidney, lung, brain and intestine). The high level of plasminogen activator activity measured in extracts of the B16 tumor was reflected in a substantial elevation of the levels of fibrin degradation products in the serum of mice carrying this tumor. This result suggests that the tumor-associated plasminogen activator activity is less subject to inhibitory controls in vivo than is the plasminogen activator of most normal tissues, since the total mass of the tumor was far less than the total mass of the fibrinolytically active tissues, and yet the bulk of the fibrin degradation products were caused by the tumor. We conclude that the high levels of plasminogen activator activity which are observed in many human tumors are found only in some of the transplantable murine tumors. Since this enzyme is active at an increased level in vivo in mice carrying the B16 tumor, plasminogen activator may be a suitable target for selective, enzyme-activated chemotherapy with this tumor test system.