Protein synthesis is required for laminin-induced expression of the 67-kDa laminin receptor and its 37-kDa precursor.

The high affinity 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR) is highly expressed in metastatically active human cancers. A 37-kDa polypeptide has been identified as its precursor (37LRP). Antibodies raised against 37LRP-derived synthetic peptides were used in immunogold electron microscopy and immunoblot studies to assess the effect of laminin on expression of the 67LR and the 37LRP. Laminin (15 micrograms/ml) treatment of suspended A2058 human melanoma cells doubled the expression of both 37LRP and the 67LR. Fibronectin had no effect. There was no effect of laminin on the expression of actin or galectin-3. Cycloheximide treatment of cells prior to laminin abrogated its inducible effect. The results suggest that binding of laminin by cell surface laminin receptors induces synthesis of the 37LRP and mature 67LR, with a consequent delivery to the cell surface of more laminin binding proteins for potentiated attachment of the melanoma cell to the basement membrane during invasion and metastasis.

trans-Dominant suppressor mutations of the H-ras oncogene.

Site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved sequence motifs of p21 generated a group of mutant p21s defective in GTP binding. Some of these mutants were highly transforming, whereas others were transformation defective. Among the latter group, we found two mutants, derived from the v-H-ras oncogene by substituting the asparagine-116 with tyrosine and isoleucine, that exhibited a trans-dominant activity of suppressing the transformed phenotype of NIH3T3 cells induced by a long terminal repeat-linked c-H-ras and a wild-type v-H-ras. They caused reduction of the colony-forming efficiency in soft agar (78% in c-ras-transformed cells; 55% in v-ras cells) and morphological reversion of ras transformants. Subclones of revertants expressed a great excess of mutant p21 relative to the c-ras p21 present in these cells. These mutants were not lethal to NIH3T3 cells. Apparently, defective proteins encoded by suppressor mutants sequestered vital targets for ras function. Suppressor mutants also induced morphological reversion of NIH3T3 cells transformed by src, fes/flp, sis, and fms oncogenes, suggesting that these oncogenes function upstream to ras in the signaling pathways. Cells transformed by mos and a chemical carcinogen were unaffected.