Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.21.1 (chymotrypsin)
10,938 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The interaction between ecotin and target proteases with trypsin-like specificity has been systematically dissected to understand the structural basis of ecotin's broad inhibitory specificity and the role of the secondary binding site. Site-directed and region-specific mutagenesis were preformed at ecotin's primary site P1 residue (84), the C-terminal dimer interface (133 to 142), and two surface loops of the secondary binding site (67 to 70, 108 to 113). Substitutions at the P1 position resulted in less than fivefold difference in the potency of ecotin binding to rat trypsin, suggesting that the extended binding site is important in binding. A ten amino acid C-terminal truncation variant showed threefold weaker self-association but remained a dimer. The interactions of the secondary binding site of ecotin with bovine trypsin, rat trypsin and human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) were investigated with alanine substitutions in ecotin at Trp67, Gly68, Tyr69, Asp70, Arg108, Asn110, Lys112 and Leu113, which formed contacts between the inhibitor and protease. By combining these mutations at the secondary binding site with mutations in the primary binding site the molecular recognition between ecotin and its target serine proteases was probed. The contrast in the Ki values of the various ecotin variants towards bovine trypsin, rat trypsin and human uPA established the role of ecotin's secondary binding site in recognizing these homologous serine proteases. Ecotin binds to proteases with a chymotrypsin fold through a combination of primary and secondary site surface loops and is amenable to redesign of its potency and specificity for this class of enzymes.
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PMID:Ecotin: a serine protease inhibitor with two distinct and interacting binding sites. 964 73

Ecotin, a dimeric serine protease inhibitor from Escherichia coli, is a novel platform for inhibitor design. An approach using the three-dimensional structure of the ecotin-trypsin complex to guide combinatiorial design efforts was taken to create potent bidentate ecotin inhibitors for trypsin and human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). The ecotin surface loop that was redesigned is composed of residues 67 to 70 (60 s loop), and binds to the target protease at a region 25 A from the enzyme active site. Two ecotin phage display libraries were constructed to exploit the binding interactions at the 60 s loop. The ecotin 60X4 library, in which residues 67 to 70 of ecotin were randomized, was panned against rat and bovine trypsin in parallel for four rounds. Panning against bovine trypsin resulted in enrichment of ecotin phage but did not yield a consensus sequence. Panning against rat trypsin resulted in enrichment as well as the ecotin consensus sequence WGFP at positions 67 to 70. The variant ecotin encoded by this sequence inhibited rat trypsin at 80 pM, a 12-fold improvement over ecotin wild-type (WT). A second generation library, ecotin M84R+60X4 including an additional methionine to arginine substitution at position 84 in the primary binding site of ecotin, was generated for panning against uPA and rat trypsin. Panning against rat trypsin resulted in enrichment but no consensus sequence. Panning against uPA resulted in enrichment as well as the different ecotin consensus sequence WGYR at positions 67 to 70. Ecotin M84R+D70R bound to uPA at 50 pM, a 56,000-fold increase in binding compared to ecotin WT. Furthermore, ecotin M84R+D70R achieved a 13,680-fold preference of specificity towards uPA versus rat trypsin. The fact that the 60 s loop of ecotin plays different roles in binding to trypsin and uPA suggests this site can be used to introduce specificity and potency for other members of the serine proteases with a chymotrypsin fold.
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PMID:Engineering bidentate macromolecular inhibitors for trypsin and urokinase-type plasminogen activator. 964 77

Metastasis is a characteristic and fatal feature of human malignancies. Its regulation is therefore of the utmost significance to clinicians. The present study was undertaken to determine whether a legume-derived protease inhibitor (PI) of trypsin/chymotrypsin, the field bean PI (FBPI), also has plasmin inhibitory activity and can inhibit pulmonary metastasis of B16F10 melanoma cells systemically injected into BDF1 mice. Two approaches to the problem were made. In the first, the melanoma cells were exposed to two different concentrations of the FBPI prior to their inoculation into animals. In the second, the mice were treated intraperitoneally with FBPI at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight once daily for 10 days, the treatment being started soon after the systemic injection of the tumour cells. The study revealed that both modes of FBPI treatment could effectively block lung cell metastasis by the melanoma cells and that FBPI has plasmin blocking activity. Since urokinase type plasminogen activator and plasmin are known to play significant roles in tumour cell metastasis, the dose-dependent inhibitory effect of FBPI with antiplasmin activity on tumour cell metastasis suggests that its antimetastatogenic action is probably mediated through its plasmin inhibitory action.
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PMID:The field bean protease inhibitor has the potential to suppress B16F10 melanoma cell lung metastasis in mice. 971 30

Brain serine proteases are implicated in developmental processes, synaptic plasticity, and in disorders including Alzheimer's disease. The spectrum of the major enzymes expressed in brain has not been established previously. We now present a systematic study of the serine proteases expressed in adult rat and mouse hippocampus. Using a combination of techniques including polymerase chain reaction amplification and Northern blotting we show that tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) is the major species represented. Unexpectedly, the next most abundant species were RNK-Met-1, a lymphocyte protease not reported previously in brain, and two new family members, BSP1 (brain serine protease 1) and BSP2. We report full-length sequences of the two new proteases; homologies indicate that these are of tryptic specificity. Although BSP2 is expressed in several brain regions, BSP1 expression is strikingly restricted to hippocampus. Other enzymes represented, but at lower levels, included elastase IV, proteinase 3, complement C2, chymotrypsin B, chymotrypsin-like protein, and Hageman factor. Although thrombin and urokinase-type plasminogen activator were not detected in the primary screen, low level expression was confirmed using specific polymerase chain reaction primers. In contrast, and despite robust expression of t-PA, the usual t-PA substrate plasminogen was not expressed at detectable levels.
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PMID:Serine proteases in rodent hippocampus. 972 24

Human kallikrein 2 (hK2) is a serine protease expressed predominantly in the prostate which has 80% homology to prostate-specific antigen (PSA). hK2 is an active trypsin-like protease which has been shown by immuno-histochemical staining to be more highly expressed in prostate carcinoma than in benign prostate tissue. Unlike PSA, hK2 activates pro-PSA , pro-hK2 and the zymogen form of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), an extracellular protease correlated with prostate cancer and metastasis. We show here that hK2 rapidly forms a complex with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), the primary inhibitor of uPA in tissues. In addition, hK2 inactivated 6 to 7 mol of PAI-1 by cleavage at Arg346-Met347 for every mole of hK2-PAI-1 complex formed. In contrast with hK2, PSA neither complexed with nor inactivated PAI-1. PAI-1 inhibited hK2 comparably with protein C inhibitor (PCI) and at least 20 times more rapidly than alpha1-anti-chymotrypsin (ACT). N-Terminal sequencing shows that hK2 forms a covalent complex with PAI-1, PCI and ACT after cleavage at Arg346-Met347, Arg354-Ser355 and Leu358-Ser359, respectively. During complex formation, hK2 inactivated PAI-1 but did not inactivate ACT or PCI. Our current results suggest that the increased hK2 expression in prostate cancer tissues could influence cancer biology not only by activation of uPA but also by inactivation of its primary inhibitor, PAI-1.
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PMID:Prostatic human kallikrein 2 inactivates and complexes with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. 1020 59

The catalytically inactive precursor of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (pro-u-PA) induced a chemotactic response in rat smooth muscle cells (RSMC) through binding to the membrane receptor of urokinase (u-PA receptor [u-PAR]). A soluble form of u-PAR activated by chymotrypsin cleavage as well as a peptide located between domain 1 and 2 of u-PAR reproduced the effect of pro-u-PA on cell migration. The chemotactic pro-u-PA effect correlates with a dramatic reorganization of actin cytoskeleton, of adhesion plaques, and with major cell shape changes in RSMC. Pro-u-PA induced a decrease in stress fiber content, membrane ruffling, actin ring formation, and disruption leading to the characteristic elongated cell shape of motile cells with an actin semi-ring located close to the leading edge of cells. u-PAR effects on both chemotaxis and cytoskeleton were sensitive to pertussis toxin and, hence, possibly require G proteins. u-PAR effects are accompanied by a relocation of u-PAR, vitronectin receptor (VNR) alphavbeta3, beta1 integrin subunit, and Src tyrosine kinase to the leading membrane of migrating cells. In conclusion, our data show that pro-u-PA, via binding to u-PAR, controls a signaling pathway, regulated by tyrosine kinases and possibly G proteins, leading to cell cytoskeleton reorganization and cell migration.
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PMID:Src-dependence and pertussis-toxin sensitivity of urokinase receptor-dependent chemotaxis and cytoskeleton reorganization in rat smooth muscle cells. 1039 32

Serine proteases of the chymotrypsin fold are of great interest because they provide detailed understanding of their enzymatic properties and their proposed role in a number of physiological and pathological processes. We have been developing the macromolecular inhibitor ecotin to be a "fold-specific" inhibitor that is selective for members of the chymotrypsin-fold class of proteases. Inhibition of protease activity through the use of wild-type and engineered ecotins results in inhibition of rat prostate differentiation and retardation of the growth of human PC-3 prostatic cancer tumors. In an effort to identify the proteases that may be involved in these processes, reverse transcription-PCR with PC-3 poly(A)+ mRNA was performed by using degenerate oligonucleotide primers. These primers were designed by using conserved protein sequences unique to chymotrypsin-fold serine proteases. Five proteases were identified: urokinase-type plasminogen activator, factor XII, protein C, trypsinogen IV, and a protease that we refer to as membrane-type serine protease 1 (MT-SP1). The cloning and characterization of the MT-SP1 cDNA shows that it encodes a mosaic protein that contains a transmembrane signal anchor, two CUB domains, four LDLR repeats, and a serine protease domain. Northern blotting shows broad expression of MT-SP1 in a variety of epithelial tissues with high levels of expression in the human gastrointestinal tract and the prostate. A His-tagged fusion of the MT-SP1 protease domain was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and autoactivated. Ecotin and variant ecotins are subnanomolar inhibitors of the MT-SP1 activated protease domain, suggesting a possible role for MT-SP1 in prostate differentiation and the growth of prostatic carcinomas.
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PMID:Reverse biochemistry: use of macromolecular protease inhibitors to dissect complex biological processes and identify a membrane-type serine protease in epithelial cancer and normal tissue. 1050 Jan 22

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator uPA-R can regulate integrin functions by associating with several types of beta-subunit. We have recently shown that normal thyroid TAD-2 cells express both a native and a cleaved form of uPA-R which lacks the binding domain for uPA. We found this cleaved form to be present in reduced amounts in papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma cells and completely absent in cells derived from an anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ARO). We now report that in normal thyroid cells the intact form of uPA-R strongly associates with beta-1 integrins, whereas its cleaved form does not. uPA-R expressed by ARO cells shows a stronger resistance to the cleavage mediated by uPA, plasmin and chymotrypsin than does uPA-R expressed by normal thyroid cells. This resistance to cleavage correlates with the higher level of glycosylation of uPA-R of ARO cells as compared to that of cleavable uPA-R of normal thyroid cells. These results suggest that uPA-R cleavage, which occurs in several cell types, represents a mechanism regulating the interactions of uPA-R with integrins and, possibly, the subsequent integrin-mediated cell adhesion. Moreover we hypothesize that glycosylation regulates uPA-R cleavage and, indirectly, its interaction with integrins.
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PMID:Cleavage of urokinase receptor regulates its interaction with integrins in thyroid cells. 1057 Oct 56

Inhibition of urokinase has been shown to slow tumor growth and metastasis. To utilize structure-based drug design, human urokinase was re-engineered to provide a more optimal crystal form. The redesigned protein consists of residues Ile(16)-Lys(243) (in the chymotrypsin numbering system; for the urokinase numbering system it is Ile(159)-Lys(404)) and two point mutations, C122A and N145Q (C279A and N302Q). The protein yields crystals that diffract to ultra-high resolution at a synchrotron source. The native structure has been refined to 1.5 A resolution. This new crystal form contains an accessible active site that facilitates compound soaking, which was used to determine the co-crystal structures of urokinase in complex with the small molecule inhibitors amiloride, 4-iodo-benzo(b)thiophene-2-carboxamidine and phenylguanidine at 2. 0-2.2 A resolution. All three inhibitors bind at the primary binding pocket of urokinase. The structures of amiloride and 4-iodo-benzo(b)thiophene-2-carboxamidine also reveal that each of their halogen atoms are bound at a novel structural subsite adjacent to the primary binding pocket. This site consists of residues Gly(218), Ser(146), and Cys(191)-Cys(220) and the side chain of Lys(143). This pocket could be utilized in future drug design efforts. Crystal structures of these three inhibitors in complex with urokinase reveal strategies for the design of more potent nonpeptidic urokinase inhibitors.
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PMID:Re-engineering of human urokinase provides a system for structure-based drug design at high resolution and reveals a novel structural subsite. 1070 94

A method is presented for the preparation and use of fluorogenic peptide substrates that allows for the configuration of general substrate libraries to rapidly identify the primary and extended specificity of proteases. The substrates contain the fluorogenic leaving group 7-amino-4-carbamoylmethylcoumarin (ACC). Substrates incorporating the ACC leaving group show kinetic profiles comparable to those with the traditionally used 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) leaving group. The bifunctional nature of ACC allows for the efficient production of single substrates and substrate libraries by using 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-based solid-phase synthesis techniques. The approximately 3-fold-increased quantum yield of ACC over AMC permits reduction in enzyme and substrate concentrations. As a consequence, a greater number of substrates can be tolerated in a single assay, thus enabling an increase in the diversity space of the library. Soluble positional protease substrate libraries of 137, 180 and 6,859 members, possessing amino acid diversity at the P4-P3-P2-P1 and P4-P3-P2 positions, respectively, were constructed. Employing this screening method, we profiled the substrate specificities of a diverse array of proteases, including the serine proteases thrombin, plasmin, factor Xa, urokinase-type plasminogen activator, tissue plasminogen activator, granzyme B, trypsin, chymotrypsin, human neutrophil elastase, and the cysteine proteases papain and cruzain. The resulting profiles create a pharmacophoric portrayal of the proteases to aid in the design of selective substrates and potent inhibitors.
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PMID:Rapid and general profiling of protease specificity by using combinatorial fluorogenic substrate libraries. 1086 34


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