Partial restoration of pre-transformation levels of lysyl oxidase and transin mRNAs in phenotypic ras revertants.

Neoplastic transformation mediated by ras oncogenes is associated with deregulated expression of genes encoding, for example, various proteases, lysyl oxidase, and smooth-muscle α-actin. To define the role of these genes in the initiation or maintenance of the ras-transformed state, we compared their steady-state mRNA levels in two different sets of preneoplastic fibroblast lines, ras-transformed clones, and phenotypic revertants derived from them. Compared with the preneoplastic fibroblasts, the ras-transformed derivatives exhibited elevated levels of cathepsin L (major excreted protein), transin (stromelysin I, matrix metalloproteinase–3), and collagenase I (matrix metalloproteinase–1) mR…