To examine the mechanisms by which transforming growth factors (TGFs) regulate the proliferation of eukaryotic cells, five cell lines, from different species and tissues, were treated with three agents that inhibit DNA synthesis and proliferation: BSC-1 cell-derived growth inhibitor (GI/TGF-beta), platelet-derived transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. The cell lines tested were mink lung CCL 64 epithelial cells, Maloney sarcoma virus-transformed CCL 64.1, monkey kidney BSC-1 epithelial cells, human epidermoid A431 cells, and mouse embryo AKR-2B (clone 84A) cells. All cell lines responded to one or more of these agents by synthesizing and secreting a 48 to 51-kDa protein (IIP48). The TGF-beta s and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate had little or no effect on the incorporation of [35S] methionine into other secreted proteins or on the pattern of [35S]methionine-labeled intracellular proteins analyzed by one-dimensional, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The maximum increase in induction of IIP48 varied from 2-fold to greater than 800-fold compared with the controls and occurred within 6 h of adding GI/TGF-beta to CCL 64 cells. Actinomycin D, alpha-amanitin, or 5,6-dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole selectively decreased both the control and induced levels of IIP48 even after as little as 6 h of incubation. Thus, it appears that IIP48 mRNA turns over rapidly. Induction of IIP48 was dissociated from the inhibition of DNA synthesis by GI/TGF-beta. However, we found that epidermal growth factor and GI/TGF-beta act synergistically to increase the secreted level of IIP48. Others have shown that epidermal growth factor and TGF-beta act synergistically to stimulate growth of cells in agar. IIP48 from CCL 64, BSC-1, and AKR-2B cells is specifically immunoprecipitated by antibody to bovine plasminogen activator inhibitor. We found previously that TGF-beta also inhibits the production of major excreted protein, a thiol protease. It is proposed that TGF-beta is able to promote anchorage-independent growth of untransformed cells because of its ability to inhibit the production of secreted proteases and to increase the production of protease inhibitors.