Isolation, characterization, and amino-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of human neutrophil cathepsin G from normal donors

Human neutrophil cathepsin G from normal donors has been purified 82-fold using an isolation procedure which included sequential sodium chloride extraction, Aprotonin-Sepharose affinity chromatography, CM-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography, and AcA44 gel filtration chromatography. The inclusion of this last purification step was crucial for separating inactive lower molecular weight species from the active forms of neutrophil cathepsin G and resulted in a higher specific activity of the final preparation. SDS polyacrylamide gradient gel electrophoresis of the purified reduced protein demonstrated three discrete polypeptides of Mr 31,000, 30,000, and 29,500. Peptide analysis of tryptic digests indicated that these three polypeptides are structurally related to each other and represent microheterogeneity of the purified protein. The cathepsin G peptide maps were distinctly different from the peptide maps of neutrophil elastase. The apparent isoelectric points of these forms as determined by two-dimensional electrophoresis was approximately 8.0. Utilizing microsequencing techniques, the first 25 residues of normal neutrophil cathepsin G have been determined and shown to be identical (except for residue 11) with the sequence of 21 residues of cathepsin G isolated from leukemic myeloid cells. A high degree of homology was found when the amino-terminal regions of neutrophil cathepsin G, rat mast cell protease II (65%) and two human serine proteinases, factor D (52%) and neutrophil elastase (48%), were compared. A precipitating monospecific antiserum to cathepsin G was produced by repeated immunizations of guinea pigs. This antiserum has been used in immunoblotting experiments to demonstrate that the intracellular form(s) of this enzyme is the same approximate Mr as the purified enzyme, and to develop a solid-phase radioimmunoassay for measuring neutrophil cathepsin G in the range 5-50 ng/ml.