Proteinase inhibitors from the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis

The medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis produces various types of proteinase inhibitors: bdellins (inhibitors of trypsin, plasmin, and acrosin), hirustasin (inhibitor of tissue kallikrein, trypsin, -chymotrypsin, and granulocyte cathepsin G), tryptase inhibitor, eglins (inhibitors of -chymotrypsin, subtilisin, and chymasin and the granulocyte proteinases elastase and cathepsin G), inhibitor of factor Xa, hirudin (thrombin inhibitor), inhibitor of carboxypeptidase, and inhibitor of complement component C1s. This review summarizes data on their primary and tertiary structures, action mechanisms, and biological activities.     

Decrease of proteolytic degradation of recombinant hirudin produced by Pichia pastoris by controlling the specific growth rate

The effects of the specific growth rate and methanol concentration on the degradation of hirudin produced by recombinant Pichia pastoris were investigated. When a methanol-limited state and the specific growth rate of 0.02 h^–1 were maintained during the fermentation, a minimum degradation of hirudin and a maximum specific hirudin production rate were achieved. By this strategy, the production of intact recombinant hirudin Hir65 reached 0.7 g l^–1 in fed-batch fermentation. Its proportion was 35% to all forms of hirudin.     

重组葡激酶和水蛭素融合蛋白的血栓靶向性机制

为解释以凝血因子Xa(FXa)的识别序列为连接肽的葡激酶和水蛭素的融合蛋白(命名为SFH)在体内的强溶栓和低出血的特征,研究分析了SFH的两个血栓靶向性作用机理.首先采用ELISA和免疫组化的方法在体外分析了由水蛭素游离的C末端赋予的SFH对血栓的靶向性,结果显示SFH对凝血酶和富含凝血酶的血栓具有更高的亲和力.为阐明SFH抗凝活性在血栓部位的靶向性释放,构建表达了仅在水蛭素N末端连接FXa识别序列的水蛭素衍生物(命名为FH).体外试验结果表明完整的FH无抗凝活性,在体内FH可以发挥抗栓作用,且出血副作用较低,这些结果说明FXa的识别序列可以封闭水蛭素的抗凝活性,在体内FH可以由于FXa的成功裂解而释放其抗凝活性,且其抗凝活性可能仅局限于血栓局部.这就间接说明了SFH的抗凝活性可以在血栓局部进行靶向性释放.以上两个血栓靶向性作用机理是SFH在体内发挥更高溶栓效率和降低出血副作用的重要机制.     

Scale-up of recombinant hirudin production fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae

Scale-up of hirudin production fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae from bench-scale to pilot-scale was carried out based on constant volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (K _L a). Fed-batch mode of cultivation using step-wise feeding strategy of galactose was employed for the production of hirudin in a 30-L and a 300-L pilot-scale fermentor. The final hirudin concentrations were achieved 390 mg/L and 286.1 mg/L, and the volumetric productivities were 80.4% and 90.7% with the 30-L and 300-L fermentors, respectively, compared to the productivity of the 5-L bench-scale fermentor.     

Production of recombinant hirudin in galactokinase-deficientSaccharomyces cerevisiae by fed-batch fermentation with continuous glucose feeding

The artificial gene coding for anticoagulant hirudin was placed under the control of theGAL10 promoter and expressed in the galactokinase-deficient strain (Δgal1) ofSaccharomyces cereivisiae, which uses galactose only as a gratuitous inducer in order to avoid its consumption. For efficient production of recombinant hirudin, a carbon source other than galactose should be provided in the medium to support growth of the Δgal1 strain. Here we demonstrate the successful use of glucose in the fed-batch fermentation of the Δgal1 strain to achieve efficient production of recombinant hirudin, with a yield of up to 400 mg hirudin/L.     

In situ PEGylation of recombinant hirudin on an anion exchange chromatography column

In this study, an integrated process was developed for successive solid-phase PEGylation of recombinant hirudin variant-2 (HV2) and separation of PEGylated HV2 species on an anion exchange chromatography column (so-called in situ PEGylation). The effects of different PEG sizes, ion exchange resins and reaction conditions on in situ PEGylation were investigated. The results showed that in situ PEGylation efficiently integrates the reaction, separation and purification into a single-unit operation using the same column. In situ PEGylation could improve the selectivity of PEGylation reactions by significantly reducing the formation of multi-PEG-HV2. The pore sizes and internal surface structures of different resins had a significant impact on the yield of mono-PEG-HV2. In contrast to liquid-phase PEGylation, the yield of mono-PEG-HV2 decreased as PEG size increased during the in situ PEGylation process, indicating that in situ PEGylation is a pore diffusion-controlled process. The in vitro and in vivo anticoagulant activities of mono-PEG-HV2 derived from in situ PEGylation were higher than those from liquid-phase PEGylation, indicating that in situ PEGylation could enhance the bioactivity retention of mono-PEG-HV2. The results of this study demonstrated that in situ PEGylation can be used as an effective approach for the development of PEGylated protein drugs.     

重组水蛭素的抗血栓形成作用及其机制

目的：研究重组水蛭素抗血栓形成的作用及机制。方法：将60只雄性昆明小鼠随机分为对照组、模型组、阿司匹林组和重组水蛭素低、中、高剂量组（n=10）。除对照组外,其余各组小鼠分别腹腔注射角叉菜胶2.5 mg/kg,诱发小鼠尾部血栓形成。注射角叉菜胶前24 h、0.5 h和注射后24 h,阿司匹林组小鼠分别腹腔注射阿司匹林25 mg/kg,重组水蛭素低、中、高剂量组小鼠分别腹腔注射0.05、0.1、0.2 mg/kg重组水蛭素,对照组和模型组小鼠分别腹腔注射等体积生理盐水。注射角叉菜胶后48 h,观察小鼠黑尾长度并计算黑尾发生率;检测血浆凝血酶原时间（PT）、活化部分凝血活酶时间（APTT）、组织型纤溶酶原激活剂（t-PA）、纤溶酶原激活物抑制因子-1（PAI-1）、6-酮-前列腺素F1α（6-keto-PGF1α）、血栓恶烷B2（TXB2）水平。结果：与对照组比较,模型组小鼠尾部形成血栓;血浆PT明显缩短（P<0.01）,PAI-1、TXB2水平明显升高（P<0.01）,t-PA、6-keto-PGF1α水平明显降低（P<0.01）。与模型组比较,重组水蛭素低、中、高剂量组和阿司匹林组小鼠尾部血栓长度明显缩短（P<0.05或P<0.01）,PT明显延长（P<0.01）,PAI-1、TXB2水平明显降低（P<0.01）,t-PA、6-keto-PGF1α水平明显升高（P<0.01）。与阿司匹林组比较,重组水蛭素低剂量组小鼠尾部血栓长度明显增加（P<0.05）,PT明显缩短（P<0.01）,PAI-1、TXB2水平明显升高（P<0.01）;重组水蛭素低、中剂量组6-keto-PGF1α水平明显降低（P<0.01,P<0.05）;重组水蛭素中剂量组PAI-1、TXB2水平明显升高（P<0.01,P<0.05）。结论：重组水蛭素有明显抗血栓形成作用,其机制可能与影响外源性凝血系统、促进纤溶功能有关。     

Assay of disulfide oxidase and isomerase based on the model of hirudin folding

Oxidative folding of fully reduced hirudin (R-Hir, six cysteines) undergoes two distinct stages. A first stage of nonspecific disulfide formation promoted by oxidase converts R-Hir to form 3-disulfide scrambled hirudins (X-Hir) as obligatory intermediates. A second stage of disulfide shuffling catalyzed by isomerase converts X-Hir to the native hirudin (N-Hir). The model of hirudin folding is utilized here to develop an assay system for measuring the activity of disulfide oxidase and isomerase, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantification of R-Hir, X-Hir, and N-Hir. The oxidase assay measures the ability of an oxidase to promote R-HirX-Hir conversion. The molar specific activity is expressed as mol ofR-Hir decrease per mol of oxidase per min. The isomerase assay measures the ability of an isomerase to catalyze X-HirN-Hir transformation. The molar specific activity is expressed as mol ofN-Hir increase per mol of isomerase per min. Alternatively, the recovery of N-Hir in the isomerase assay can be determined by its alpha-thrombin inhibitory activity. Using both HPLC and activity-based assay, we have measured the relative oxidase and isomerase activity of reduced and oxidized glutathione, Cys, Cys-Cys, and reduced and oxidized protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). The molar specific activity of reduced PDI was shown to be 0.1+/-0.01 U, which is consistent with documented data obtained by the scrambled RNase-A-based assay. These proposed assay methods provide alternatives to the limited option of methodologies currently available for measuring oxidase and isomerase activities. A major merit of the proposed assay system is the potential to accommodate the analysis of biological samples.     

Addition of both platelets and thrombin in combination accelerates tumor cells to adhere to endothelial cells In vitro

Summary Platelets and coagulation are involved in the pathogenesis of blood-borne metastases. The aim of this study is to obtain more information about the mechanisms involved in the initial adhesion of tumor cells to endothelial cells. In short term experiments with tumor cells, suspended in the medium of cultured endothelial cells, we tested whether addition of both platelets and thrombin cause more tumor cell adhesion to endothelial cells, than when either platelets or thrombin are acting alone. HeLa cells or HT29 cells, prelabeled with radioactive ⁵¹Cr, human platelets, and thrombin were added to human endothelial cell cultures. Following 15 min of shaking at 37° C, the percentage of tumor cell adhesion was calculated. The percentages of adhering tumor cells with the presence of both platelets and thrombin were greatly increased compared to controls. Addition of hirudin 2 min before thrombin lowered the adhesion percentage of tumor cells. Hirudin added immediately before and 2 min after thrombin gave only minor effects. When the endothelium was treated with superoxide dismutase, catalase, and mannitol, the adhesion of tumor cells was lowered with catalase and superoxide dismutase. The cause of tumor cell-endothelial cell interaction is probably complex. Our results show that activated platelets enhance the tumor cell adhesion, and that generation of active oxygen species may be important in the initial phase of the interaction.     

3-Nitrotyrosine as a spectroscopic probe for investigating protein protein interactions

3-Nitrotyrosine (NT) is approximately 10(3)-fold more acidic than Tyr, and its absorption properties are strongly pH-dependent. NT absorbs radiation in the wavelength range where Tyr and Trp emit fluorescence (300-450 nm), and it is essentially nonfluorescent. Therefore, NT may function as an energy acceptor in resonance energy transfer (FRET) studies for investigating ligand protein interactions. Here, the potentialities of NT were tested on the hirudin thrombin system, a well-characterized protease inhibitor pair of key pharmacological importance. We synthesized two analogs of the N-terminal domain (residues 1-47) of hirudin: Y3NT, in which Tyr3 was replaced by NT, and S2R/Y3NT, containing the substitutions Ser2 --> Arg and Tyr3 --> NT. The binding of these analogs to thrombin was investigated at pH 8 by FRET and UV/Vis-absorption spectroscopy. Upon hirudin binding, the fluorescence of thrombin was reduced by approximately 50%, due to the energy transfer occurring between the Trp residues of the enzyme (i.e., the donors) and the single NT of the inhibitor (i.e., the acceptor). The changes in the absorption spectra of the enzyme inhibitor complex indicate that the phenate moiety of NT in the free state becomes protonated to phenol in the thrombin-bound form. Our results indicate that the incorporation of NT can be effectively used to detect protein protein interactions with sensitivity in the low nanomolar range, to uncover subtle structural features at the ligand protein interface, and to obtain reliable Kd values for structure activity relationship studies. Furthermore, advances in chemical and genetic methods, useful for incorporating noncoded amino acids into proteins, highlight the broad applicability of NT in biotechnology and pharmacological screening.