The angiogenic and malignant phenotypes of hamster tumor cells are inversely correlated with the expression of an amino terminally truncated thrombospondin (TSP) subunit. In the present study, we have constructed a truncated TSP subunit from a human fibroblast cDNA library (rt-TSP1) and expressed it in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Increased concentrations of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were detected in endothelial cell conditioned medium following treatment with rt-TSP1. This rt-TSP1-induced increase in PAI-1 was neutralized by monoclonal antibodies to both TSP and TGF beta. rt-TSP1 also inhibits the proliferation of endothelial cells and this response is also neutralized by TSP and TGF beta antibodies. Serine and cysteine proteases inhibitors were used to determine if rt-TSP1 activated the latent TGF beta. However, these protease inhibitors did not neutralize the effect of rt-TSP1. The data indicate that the anti-angiogenic properties of TSP may be due to inhibition of the pericellular proteolysis required for endothelial cell migration and endothelial cell proliferation.