The urokinase inhibitor p-aminobenzamidine inhibits growth of a human prostate tumor in SCID mice.

Malignant cells possess a high degree of proteolytic activity in which the plasminogen activator system plays an important role. An increased expression of urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA) is of significance for degradation of the extracellular tumor matrix, facilitating invasiveness and growth. Inhibition of the active site of uPA makes it possible to evaluate the significance of uPA in tumor growth. We report here experiments on a uPA-producing human prostate xenograft (DU 145) using a competitive inhibitor of uPA, p-aminobenzamidine. In vitro experiments with DU 145 cells showed that p-aminobenzamidine caused a dose-dependent inhibition of uPA activity. DU 145 cells were inoculated s.c. in SCID mice and, once tumors were established, treatment with p-aminobenzamidine added to drinking water was started and lasted for 23 days. Mice receiving 250 mg/kg/day of p-aminobenzamidine showed a clear decrease in tumor-growth rate compared to the non-treated mice, resulting in 64% lower final tumor weight. In addition, uPA-antigen levels in the membrane fractions of DU 145 tumors from p-aminobenzamidine-treated mice were found to be decreased by 59%. We also show that p-aminobenzamidine has an anti-proliferative effect in cell culture at low cell number, correlating with a dose-dependent decrease in uPA production. In conclusion, we show that a low-molecular-weight uPA-inhibitor, p-aminobenzamidine, has a growth-inhibitory effect on a solid uPA-producing tumor.