Activation of blood coagulation and local fibrin deposition may contribute to tumor metastasis. We have examined the ability of four human tumor cell lines (COLO 205, HepG2, J82 and CAPAN-2) to augment the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin by factor Xa and calcium in the presence and absence of exogenous factor Va. Using a chromogenic substrate assay to assess thrombin formation, we observed that all the above cell lines accelerated prothrombin activation in the absence of exogenous factor Va. The order of effectiveness was COLO 205 greater than HepG2 greater than J82 greater than CAPAN-2. In the absence of cells, no detectable thrombin formation occurred. Pretreatment of COLO 205 and HepG2 cells with anti-human factor V IgG inhibited prothrombin activation in a dose-dependent manner, but was without effect in J82 and CAPAN-2 incubation mixtures. Factor V coagulant activity was observed in COLO 205 and HepG2 cells as well as their culture media, but was not detected in J82 and CAPAN-2 cells or their culture media. Biosynthetic labeling and immunoprecipitation studies revealed that COLO 205 and HepG2 cells constitutively synthesized factor V or a factor-V-like molecule that comigrated with human factor V/Va on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. All four tumor cell lines exhibited saturation binding of exogenous human factor Va resulting in a dose-dependent enhancement of their ability to augment prothrombin activation. Our results indicate that these tumor cells can readily assemble a functional cell surface prothrombinase complex that may be important in fibrin deposition associated with the growth and metastatic progression of these, and perhaps, other tumors.