Maspin (SERPINB5) is an obligate intracellular serpin

Maspin (SERPINB5) is a tumor suppressor lost in breast and prostate cancer, whose molecular function is unknown. It is a non-inhibitory member of the clade B serpins suggested to play a role in a plethora of intracellular and extracellular settings, yet its normal cellular distribution has never been clarified. Here we investigate the distribution of maspin in non-transformed human epithelial cells. By indirect immunofluorescence, maspin has a nucleocytoplasmic distribution in breast (MCF10A) and prostate (RWPE-1) cells, and by immunoblotting and pulse-chase analyses, is neither glycosylated nor secreted. Cell surface biotinylation studies also show that maspin is not present at the cell surface. Differentiation of MCF10A cells into three-dimensional acini results in the redistribution of maspin from the nucleus to cytoplasm, but does not result in secretion. Addition of an efficient conventional signal peptide to maspin directs it into the secretory pathway and results in glycosylation, but not secretion. We further show that maspin in the cytoplasm of MCF10A cells is a soluble monomeric protein that is not detectably associated with the cytoskeleton or other extractable component. Taken together, these results suggest that maspin is restricted to an intracellular, possibly nuclear, role in which it influences cell-matrix interactions indirectly. It is probably only released as a consequence of cell damage or necrosis.