Secretion of pro-cathepsin L, the precursor of a lysosomal cysteine proteinase, has been described for ras-transfected mouse fibroblasts and several human cancer cell lines. The secretion of a latent but stable precursor might be a means for tumor cells to involve this proteinase in extracellular matrix breakdown. Since lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the industrialized countries, we therefore studied the secretion of pro-cathepsin L in 11 human non-small cell lung cancer cell lines (EPLC 32M1, NCI H157, EPLC 272H, U1752, LCLC 103H, LCLC 97TM1, U 1810, NCI H661, NCI H23, NCI H125, and NCI H596) and 8 human small cell lung cancer cell lines (SCLC 22H, NCI H60, NCI H82, NCI H526, NCI H146, NCI H841, NCI H510, and DMS 79). Immunoblot analysis of cell conditioned media showed that latent pro-cathepsin L (M(r) 42 kDa) was secreted in all 11 non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Three of these cell lines secreted an additional inactive form of cathepsin L of M(r) 24 kDa. In contrast, the 8 small cell lung cancer cell lines did not secrete any detectable cathepsin L-immunoreactive material. Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate increased the secretion of pro-cathepsin L in 6 of the non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. The cathepsin L precursor could be activated in vitro at pH 3, accompanied by a shift in molecular mass to 34 kDa. Chicken egg white cystatin prevented the acid activation. Specific antibodies against a synthetic peptide from the pro-sequence of cathepsin L reacted with the nonsmall cell lung cancer cathepsin L precursor. Extracellular pro-cathepsin L may be important in the tumor biology of non-small cell lung cancer and would be a good target for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, since the majority of physiological lysosomal proteinases are contained in intracellular compartments only.