Isolation of novel bioactive regions from bovine Achilles tendon collagen having angiotensin I-converting enzyme-inhibitory properties

Collagen, a structural biopolymer of the extracellular matrix, is known to conceal several bioactive peptides which, when excised, can display physiological actions including angiotensin II-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition. ACE is a key protease controlling the blood pressure (BP) by cleaving dipeptides from an inactive propeptide to produce angiotensin II, a potent BP regulator. Natural inhibitors of ACE, though less potent, have the advantage of being biocompatible and non-toxic. This study was undertaken to identify such cryptic regions from bovine Achilles tendon collagen. Bacterial collagenase was used to hydrolyze collagen and the hydrolysate was subjected to separation through ion-exchange column chromatography. Fractions were subjected to ACE inhibition assays and further purified by gel permeation chromatography. Two biologically active cryptic peptides were obtained displaying potent inhibition abilities; D1 and E2. The peptides were in the mass range of 1.5–3.5 kDa and the inhibition was found to be competitive. Sequence analysis confirmed a relatively higher % occurrence of amino acids A and N in comparison to collagen and a hydrophobic C-terminal with P as the terminus. Both peptides were found to retain 80% of activity, even after digestive enzyme treatment. IC₅₀ values revealed D1 to be the most potent inhibitor. Docking studies revealed that both peptides were using the C-terminal to interact with ACE-binding site. A comparison with other peptides displaying competitive inhibition hinted at the presence of a unique sequence GX′Y′ where X′ is often P, L, I or A and Y′ often P as the probable C-terminal for effective inhibition.     

Integration of QSAR modelling and QM/MM analysis to investigate functional food peptides with antihypertensive activity

Antihypertensive peptides derived from dietary proteins have long been recognised as an important source of developing functional foods with blood pressure-lowering effect. However, most of such peptides exhibit diverse tastes, such as sweet, bitter, sour and salty, which is a non-negligible aspect considered in the food development process. In the present study, several predictive quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) models that correlate peptide's structural features with their multi-bioactivities and bitter taste are established at both sequence and structure levels, and the models are then used to conduct extrapolation on thousands of randomly generated, structurally diverse peptides with chain lengths ranging from two to six amino acid residues. Based on the statistical results gained from QSAR modelling, the relationship between the antihypertensive activity and bitter taste of peptides at different sequence lengths is investigated in detail. Moreover, the structural basis, energetic property and biological implication underlying peptide interactions with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), a key target of antihypertensive therapy, are analysed at a complex three-dimensional structure level by using a high-level hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics scheme. It is found that (a) bitter taste is highly dependent on peptide length, whereas ACE inhibitory potency has only a modest correlation with the length, (b) dipeptides and tripeptides perform a moderate relationship between their ACE inhibition and bitterness, but the relationship could not be observed for those peptides of more than three amino acid residues and (c) the increase in sequence length does not cause peptides to exhibit substantial enhancement of antihypertensive activity; this is particularly significant for longer peptides such as pentapeptides and hexapeptides.     

Characterization of New Milk-derived Inhibitors of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme In Vitro and In Vivo

Inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) has been observed with a variety of different peptides, and peptide fragments with inhibitory capabilities have been identified within many different proteins, including milk proteins. The purpose of this study therefore was to identify new short peptides with inhibitory properties from the primary structure of milk proteins and to characterize them in vitro and in vivo, since no milk derived ACE inhibitors have previously been evaluated for their ability to inhibit ACE in vivo. In vitro, 8 of 9 dipeptides were found to be competitive inhibitors of ACE. The IC₅₀ was significantly lower when an angiotensin I-like substrate was used, than when a bradykinin-like substrate was used. Using three different in vivo models for ACE inhibition, a very moderate effect was observed for three of the new peptides, but only for up to 6 or 12 minutes. Nothing was observed with two reference compounds that are reported to be hypotensive ACE-inhibitors derived from milk proteins. This raises the question whether the mechanism of hypotensive action is straightforward inhibition of ACE in vivo.     

Modeling the angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitory activity of peptide mixtures obtained from cheese whey hydrolysates using concentration–response curves

Three mathematical models, two logistic models (previously published in previous works) and one mechanistic, developed in this work and based on Michaelis–Menten kinetics, were compared to select the most adequate model in describing the angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE)‐inhibitory activity of bioactive peptide mixtures obtained from cheese whey protein. The significance of both the model and its parameters as well as the value of the regression coefficient was used as criteria to select the most adequate model for obtaining the IC₅₀ values corresponding to each bioactive peptides mixture. The best results were obtained with the Michaelis–Menten‐based model because it provided the best fits and in addition the values for its parameters were always significant. As parameters of this model have a physical meaning, it could be used for inhibition‐testing experiments in the development of novel bioactive peptides. The results obtained indicated that the peptide mixture derived from the neutrase hydrolysis exhibited strong ACE inhibition activity. The main active peptides were short, with molecular masses below 1 kDa (IC₅₀ = 40.37 ± 2.66 μg/mL) and represent 38% of the initial protein content in the hydrolysate. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2012     

Purification and identification of novel angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from cultured marine microalgae (Nannochloropsis oculata) protein hydrolysate

Isolation of bioactive compounds and commercialization of marine microalgae sources are interesting targets in future marine biotechnology. Cultured biomass of the marine microalga, Nannochloropsis oculata, was used to purify angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides using proteases including pepsin, trypsin, α-chymotrypsin, papain, alcalase, and neutrase. The pepsin hydrolysate exhibited the highest ACE inhibitory activity, compared to the other hydrolysates and then was separated into three fractions (F1, F2, and F3) using Sephadex G-25 gel filtration column chromatography. First fraction (F1) showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity and it was further purified into two fractions (F1-1 and F1-2) using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The IC₅₀ value of purified ACE inhibitory peptides were 123 and 173 μM and identified as novel peptides, Gly-Met-Asn-Asn-Leu-Thr-Pro (GMNNLTP; MW, 728 Da) and Leu-Glu-Gln (LEQ; MW, 369 Da), respectively. In addition, nitric oxide production level (%) was significantly increased by the purified peptide (Gly-Met-Asn-Asn-Leu-Thr-Pro) compared to the purified peptide (Leu-Glu-Gln) and other treated pepsin hydrolysate fractions on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Cell viability assay showed no cytotoxicity on HUVECs with the treated purified peptides and fractions. These results suggest that the isolated peptides from cultured marine microalga, N. oculata protein sources may have potentiality to use commercially as ACE inhibitory agents in functional food industry.     

Purification and molecular docking study of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides from hydrolysates of marine sponge Stylotella aurantium

Angioteinsin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptide was isolated from marine sponge (Stylotella aurantium) hydrolysate prepared by various hydrolysis enzymes. The peptic hydrolysate exhibited highest ACE inhibitory activity among them and was fractionated into three ranges of molecular weight. The below 5 kDa fraction showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity and was used for subsequent purification steps. The amino acid sequences of the purified peptides were identified to be Tyr-Arg (337.2 Da), and Ile-Arg (287.2 Da). The purified peptides from marine sponge had an IC₅₀ value of 237.2 μM and 306.4 μM, respectively. The molecular docking study revealed that ACE inhibitory activity of the purified peptides was mainly attributed to the hydrogen bond interactions and Pi interaction between the dipeptides and ACE. The results suggest that marine sponge, S. aurantium would be an attractive raw material for the manufacture of anti-hypertensive nutraceutical ingredients.     

Synthetic model and bioactive peptides as potential substrates for enteropeptidase

Summary Enteropeptidase (enterokinase EC 3.4.21.9), catalyzing trypsinogen activation, exhibits unique properties for high efficiency hydrolysis of the polypeptide chain after the N-terminal tetraaspartyl-lysyl sequence. This makes it a convenient tool for the processing of fusion proteins containing this sequence. We found the enteropeptidase-catalysing degradation of some bioactive peptides: cattle hemoglobin beta-chain fragments Hb (2–8) (LTAEEKA) and Hb (1–9) (MLTAEEKAA), human angiotensin II (DRVYIHPF) (AT). Model peptides with truncated linker WDDRG and WDDKG also were shown to be susceptible to enteropeptidase action. Kinetic parameters of enteropeptidase hydrolysis for these substrates were determined.K _m values for all substrates with truncated linker (≈10⁻³ M) are an order of magnitude higher than corresponding values for typical enteropeptidase artificial peptide or fusion protein substrates with full enteropeptidase linker-DDDDK-(K _m ≈10⁻⁴ M).k _cat values for AT, Hb (2–8), WDDRG and WDDKG are ≈30–40 min⁻¹. But one additional amino acid residue at both N-and C-terminus of Hb (2–8) results in a drastic increase of hydrolysis efficiency:k _cat value for Hb (1–9) is 1510 min⁻¹. Recent study demonstrates the possibility of undesirable cleavage of target peptides or proteins containing the above-mentioned truncated linker sequences; further, the ability of enteropeptidase to hydrolyse specifically several biologically active peptidesin vitro along with its unique natural substrate trypsinogen was demonstrated.     

Identification of Hydroxysteroid (17β) dehydrogenase type 12 (HSD17B12) as a CD8<Superscript>+</Superscript> T-cell-defined human tumor antigen of human carcinomas

Hydroxysteroid (17β) dehydrogenase type 12 (HSD17B12) is a multifunctional isoenzyme functional in the conversion of estrone to estradiol (E2), and elongation of long-chain fatty acids, in particular the conversion of palmitic to archadonic (AA) acid, the precursor of sterols and the inflammatory mediator, prostaglandin E₂. Its overexpression together with that of COX-2 in breast carcinoma is associated with a poor prognosis. We have identified the HSD17B12_114–122 peptide (IYDKIKTGL) as a naturally presented HLA-A*0201 (HLA-A2)-restricted CD8⁺ T-cell-defined epitope. The HSD17B12_114–122 peptide, however, is poorly immunogenic in its in vitro ability to induce peptide-specific CD8⁺ T cells. Acting as an “optimized peptide”, a peptide (TYDKIKTGL), which is identical to the HSD17B12_114–122 peptide except for threonine at residue 1, was required for inducing in vitro the expansion of CD8⁺ T-cell effectors cross-reactive against the HSD17B12_114–122 peptide. In IFN-γ ELISPOT assays, these effector cells recognize HSD17B12_114–122 peptide-pulsed target cells, as well as HLA-A2⁺ squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) and breast carcinoma cell lines overexpressing HSD17B12 and naturally presenting the epitope. Whereas growth inhibition of a breast carcinoma cell line induced by HSD17B12 knockdown was only reversed by AA, in a similar manner, the growth inhibition of the SCCHN PCI-13 cell line by HSD17B12 knockdown was reversed by E2 and AA. Our findings provide the basis for future studies aimed at developing cancer vaccines for targeting HSD17B12, which apparently can be functional in critical metabolic pathways involved in inflammation and cancer.     

Characterization of glycoprotein E C-End of West Nile virus and evaluation of its interaction force with αVβ3 integrin as putative cellular receptor

Recombinant polypeptide containing the 260–466 amino acid sequence of West Nile virus (WNV) strain LEIV-Vlg99-27889-human glycoprotein E (gpE, E_260–466) was constructed. Immunochemical similarity between the E_260–466 and gpE of WNV was proven by enzyme immunoassay (EIA), immunoblot, competitive EIA, hemagglutination inhibition, and neutralization tests using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against the viral gpE and recombinant E_260–466. Polypeptide E_260–466 induced formation of virus neutralizing and cross-reactive antibodies that were interactive with various epitopes of this recombinant protein. It is shown by evaluation of the interaction of E_260–466 with one of the proposed cell receptors of WNV that average E_260–466-αVβ3 integrin-specific interaction force measured using atomic force spectroscopy was 80 and 140 pN for single and double interactions, correspondingly. Taken together with previously described interaction between laminin-binding protein (LBP) and WNV gpE domain II, it is proposed that WNV gpE can interact specifically with two cellular proteins (LBP and αVβ3 integrin) during virus entry.     

The influence of exogenous peptide on β2–microglobulin exchange in the HLA complex: analysis in real-time

 We used an optical biosensor to determine the relative binding affinity of peptides to purified HLA class I molecules. In this assay we monitor β₂–microglobulin (β₂m) exchange within the HLA-A2 molecule, whereby native β₂m in the complex is replaced by β₂m immobilized at the surface of the biosensor. Quantitative kinetic measurements permit us to obtain association rate (k_ass), dissociation rate (k_diss) and affinity constants (K_A) for the β₂m exchange reaction, alone, (control) and in the presence of exogenous peptide. We tested a panel of six peptides which had been designed and synthesized with an HLA-A2 binding motif, and had also been tested by the T2-cell binding assay, along with control peptides. The biosensor results demonstrate that exogenous peptide influences the dynamics of β₂m exchange in a sequence-specific manner. Five of six peptides increased the association rate, decreased the dissociation rate, and significantly increased the affinity (K_A=1.55–1.88×10⁹ M^–1) of HLA-A2 for immobilized β₂m compared with the control (K_A =1.14±0.04×10⁹ M^–1), demonstrating stabilization of the complex. One peptide was unable to stabilize the complex, as also shown in the T2 binding assay. However, analysis of peptide sequences demonstrated that the HLA-A2 secondary motif as well as primary motif residues are required for HLA-A2 stabilization. Further experiments demonstrated that β₂m exchange alone cannot stabilize the HLA class I complex at the cell surface until a peptide of sufficient binding affinity is bound. Hence kinetics equal to or below the control values in our biosensor assay probably represent an unstable complex in vivo. Unlike other methods described for the analysis of peptide stabilization, this approach is significantly faster, provides full kinetic analysis, and is simpler, since it requires no labeling of peptides. Furthermore, this may have important implications in the assessment of peptide vaccines. Received: 9 October 1997 / Revised: 20 January 1998     

Identification and molecular docking of novel ACE inhibitory peptides from protein hydrolysates of shrimp waste

The effect of enzymatic hydrolysis by Savinase on the interfacial properties and antihypertensive activity of shrimp waste proteins was evaluated. The physicochemical characterization, interfacial tension, and surface characteristics of shrimp waste protein hydrolysates (SWPH) using different enzyme/substrate (E/S) (SWPH₅ (SWPH using E/S = 5), SWPH₁₅ (SWPH using E/S = 15), and SWPH₄₀ (SWPH using E/S = 40)) were also studied. SWPH₅, SWPH₁₅, and SWPH₄₀ had an isoelectric pH around 2.07, 2.17, and 2.54 respectively. SWPH₅ exhibited the lowest interfacial tension (68.96 mN/m) followed by SWPH₁₅ (69.36 mN/m) and SWPH₄₀ (70.29 mN/m). The in vitro ACE inhibitory activity of shrimp waste protein hydrolysates showed that the most active hydrolysate was obtained using an enzyme/substrate of 15 U/mg (SWPH₁₅). SWPH₁₅ had a lower IC₅₀ value (2.17 mg/mL) than that of SWPH₅ and SWPH₄₀ (3.65 and 5.7 mg/mL, respectively). This hydrolysate was then purified and characterized. Fraction F1 separated by Sephadex G25 column which presents the best ACE inhibition activity was then separated by reversed‐phase high performance liquid chromatography. Four ACE inhibitory peptides were identified and their molecular masses and amino acid sequences were determined using ESI–MS and ESI–MS/MS, respectively. The structures of the most potent peptides were SSSKAKKMP, HGEGGRSTHE, WLGHGGRPDHE, and WRMDIDGDIMISEQEAHQR. The structural modeling of anti‐ACE peptides from shrimp waste through docking simulations results showed that these peptides bound to ACE with high affinity.