Common precursor to corticotropins and endorphins

Double-antibody immunoprecipitation procedures with antisera to endorphins and to corticotropin (ACTH) were used to study the biosynthesis of these peptides in a mouse pituitary tumor cell line. Cultures were incubated with a3 H-labeled amino acid, and aliquots of culture medium were immunoprecipitated. Sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of [3 H]phenylalanine-labeled immunoprecipitates prepared with endorphin antisera resolved three forms of endorphin with apparent molecular weights of 31,000, 11,700, and 3500; immunoprecipitates prepared with the ACTH antiserum contained four forms of ACTH with apparent molecular weights of 31,000, 23,000, 13,000 and <4500. Sequential immunoprecipitation of culture medium with the ACTH antiserum and then with the endorphin antiserum (or the reverse order) indicated that both antisera precipitated the same 31,000 dalton molecule. Purified pools of the different forms of ACTH and endorphin were prepared by immunoprecipitation and gel filtration. The tryptic peptides found in [3 H]phenylalanine- or [3 H]tryptophan-labeled 31,000 dalton ACTH were identical to the tryptic peptides found in digests of 31,000 dalton endorphin labeled with the same amino acid. A tryptic peptide similar to the lipotropin tryptic peptide [βLPH(61-69)] that contains the opiate-active methionine-enkephalin sequence could be identified in 31,000 dalton ACTH and in all the different forms of endorphin. Most of the peptide cleaved from 31,000 dalton ACTH when it is converted to 23,000 dalton ACTH could be precipitated by endorphin antisera; this 11,700 dalton endorphin molecule is similar to the pituitary hormone βLPH in size and structure. The 3500 dalton endorphin is similar to β-endorphin in size and structure. The culture medium from the AtT-20 mouse pituitary tumor cells contained approximately equimolar amounts of ACTH-related peptides and endorphin-related peptides.