Low concentrations of angiogenin activate the inositol-specific phospholipase C of cultured pulmonary artery, umbilical vein, and capillary endothelial cells, promoting a transient increase in the intracellular levels of 1,2-diacylglycerol and inositol trisphosphate. The response is strongly dose dependent with a maximum in the ng/ml concentration range and, for some cell lines, a marked decrease at concentrations >1 ng/ml; e.g., arterial endothelial cells respond weakly to angiogenin concentrations comparable to that in normal human plasma (-400 ng/ml). Chemical modification of the active site of angiogenin or inhibition with placental ribonuclease inhibitor abolishes its activation of endothelial cell phospholipase C; this correlates with the concomitant loss of both intrinsic ribonucleolytic and angiogenic activity. The response to low concentrations of angiogenin is consistent with its potency of inducing vascularization in classical angiogenesis assays. In vivo, endothelial cells are exposed to concentrations of angiogenin higher than that required to elicit a cellular response; it seems likely, therefore, that expression of a surface receptor or some other process must be rate limiting in the cellular response.Angiogenin, secreted by HT-29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells (1), is a potent inducer of vascular development in the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (1, 2). The primary structure of this 14-kDa protein exhibits significant sequence homology to pancreatic ribonuclease (3). Moreover, it has intrinsic ribonucleolytic activity distinct from that of "'classic" ribonucleases (4). Angiogenin is a very effective inhibitor of cell-free protein synthesis in the rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Inhibition is a direct result of specific angiogenin cleavage of ribosomal RNA and consequent inactivation of the protein synthesis machinery (5). To date there is no evidence that angiogenin either inhibits protein synthesis in vivo or enters undamaged cells; hence, the physiological significance of these findings remains to be clarified.Several other structurally characterized proteins-notably, tumor necrosis factor, transforming growth factors a and ,3, epidermal growth factor, as well as acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor-initially identified on the basis of other biological activities, have also been shown to be angiogenic (6-8). All of these proteins have been the subject of extensive cell biological research and the details of their interactions with various cell types have been carefully documented. In contrast, little is known about the interaction of angiogenin with cells, including the specificity of this interaction, the nature of the cellular response, how this relates to the ribonucleolytic activity of angiogenin, and how this ultimately leads to vascularization. In particular, it was not known whether angiogenin interacts directly or indirectly with the capillary endothelium. The results presented here demonstrate that angiogenin activates endothelial cell phospholipase C at concentrations wel...