Department of Antibiotics, National Institute of Health, Tokyo, Japan.
A chemotactic protein for polymorphonuclear leukocytes (lung carcinoma-derived chemotaxin [LUCT]) was purified from culture fluid of the human lung giant cell carcinoma LU65C cells to electrophoretically homogeneous form through five sequential purification steps: DEAE-Sepharose, CM-Sepharose, HPLC on carboxyl-methylated-polyvinylalcohol resin, hydrophobic, and reversed-phase. The molecular mass was determined as approximately 10 kD by SDS-PAGE and isoelectric point was 10.7. The chemotactic activity (ED50 0.75 x 10(-9) M) was sevenfold more potent than that of FMLP (5 X 10(-9) M) and comparable with that of C5a (10(-9) M). NH2-terminal amino acid sequence and amino acid composition of LUCT strongly suggest that it may be closely related to the putative protein encoded by the cDNA clone (3-10C) and almost identical with a part of sequence of the chemotactic factor derived from stimulated human leukocytes in the 6th to 32nd, but not the NH2-terminal 5 amino acids. These results indicate that the carcinoma cells produce LUCT without any added stimulant and suggest that the previously isolated chemotactic monokines may correspond to des(1-5) of LUCT in the NH2-terminal region.