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

Protease nexin-II (PN-II) is a potent chymotrypsin inhibitor that forms SDS-stable inhibitory complexes with epidermal growth factor binding protein, the gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor, and trypsin, and represents the secreted form of the amyloid beta-protein precursor (APP) that contains the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor domain. To determine the expression of PN-II within the peripheral nervous system, human dorsal root ganglia were processed for immunocytochemistry using well-characterized monoclonal antibodies against PN-II and for in situ hybridization studies using 35S-RNA PN-II probes for both APP751 and APP770. Highly specific immunoperoxidase staining of PN-II was demonstrated within the cytoplasm of dorsal root ganglia neurons and their processes in cryostat (fresh frozen) and vibratome (paraformaldehyde-fixed) sections. In situ hybridization using an anti-sense 35S-RNA PN-II probe demonstrated the presence of intense neuronal labeling. Labeling was not observed when the corresponding sense 35S-RNA PN-II probe was used. Although the precise functional role of PN-II/APP is not clear, the accumulation of amyloid beta-protein within the neuropil appears to be one of the earliest events in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus knowledge of the cell populations expressing the PN-II/APP gene would certainly be helpful for studies of the molecular mechanisms leading to the morphological and functional changes of AD. The results of this study clearly establish the expression of PN-II and its mRNA within the dorsal root ganglia neurons and their processes, and provide another point of departure for studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying the deposition of amyloid beta-protein and its relationships to the formation of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.
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PMID:Expression of protease nexin-II in human dorsal root ganglia. A correlative immunocytochemical and in situ hybridization study. 141 19

The protease inhibitor, protease nexin-2 (PN-2), is the secreted isoform of the Alzheimer's amyloid beta-protein precursor (A beta PP) that contains the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor (KPI) domain. Here we describe the use of the methylotrophic industrial yeast Pichia pastoris as a host system for the large scale production of the KPI domain of PN-2/A beta PP. In addition to the 57 amino acid KPI domain, the expression product contained an additional four amino acid residues at its amino terminus that correspond to amino acids 285-288 of A beta PP (Ponte et al. 1988 Nature 311:525-527). This expression system generated yields of greater than 1.0 gram of KPI domain per liter of fermentation media. The secreted 61 amino acid product was purified to homogeneity and biochemically characterized. Amino acid analysis and sequencing of the entire expressed KPI domain verified its integrity. Similar to native PN-2/A beta PP, the purified KPI domain potently inhibited trypsin, chymotrypsin, and coagulation factor XIa. Although heparin augments the inhibition of factor XIa by native PN-2/A beta PP it had no effect on the inhibition of factor XIa by expressed KPI domain suggesting that heparin binds to regions on native PN-2/A beta PP outside of the protease inhibitory domain. This KPI domain expression product should be useful in studying the physiologic and pathophysiologic functions of PN-2/A beta PP.
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PMID:High level expression, purification, and characterization of the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor domain of protease nexin-2/amyloid beta-protein precursor. 149 47

Site-specific mutagenesis techniques have been used to construct active site variants of the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor domain present in the Alzheimer's beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP-KD). Striking alteration of its protease inhibitory properties were obtained when the putative P1 residue, arginine, was replaced with the small hydrophobic residue valine. The altered protein was no longer inhibitory toward bovine pancreatic trypsin, human Factor XIa, mouse epidermal growth factor-binding protein, or bovine chymotrypsin, all of which are strongly inhibited by the unaltered APP-KD (Sinha, S., Dovey, H. F., Seubert, P., Ward, P. J., Blacher, R. W., Blaber, M., Bradshaw, R. A., Arici, M., Mobley, W. C., and Lieberburg, I. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 8983-8985). Instead, the P1-Val-APP-KD was a potent inhibitor of human neutrophil elastase, with a Ki = 0.8 nM, as estimated by the inhibition of the activity of human neutrophil elastase measured using a chromogenic substrate. It also inhibited the degradation of insoluble elastin by the enzyme virtually stoichiometrically. Replacement of the P1' (Ala) and P2' (Met) residues of P1-Val-MKD with the corresponding residues (Ser, Ile) from alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor resulted in an inactive protein, underscoring the mechanistic differences between the serpins from the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor family. These results confirm the importance of the P1 arginine residue of APP-KD in determining inhibitory specificity, and are also the first time that a single amino acid replacement has been shown to generate a specific potent human neutrophil elastase inhibitor from a human KD sequence.
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PMID:Conversion of the Alzheimer's beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) Kunitz domain into a potent human neutrophil elastase inhibitor. 193 50

Three alternatively spliced forms of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), APP-695, APP-751, and APP-770, were expressed in the baculovirus expression vector system. The recombinant proteins were secreted into the culture medium by infected insect cells, and APP molecules were detected in insect cells and medium 2 days after infection with the recombinant APP-baculoviruses. A partial sequence of the NH2 terminus of the secreted protein revealed identity with the native secreted protein and showed that the signal peptide was recognized and properly cleaved in insect cells. Purified secreted recombinant APP-751 comigrated with protease nexin 2 purified from platelets and fibroblasts. A 15-kDa COOH-terminal fragment of APP was also detected in cells infected with recombinant baculoviruses, suggesting that recombinant APP proteins were cleaved at the COOH-terminal end like native APP protein. Recombinant APP-751 and APP-770 formed complexes with epidermal growth factor-binding protein, whereas APP-695 did not. In addition, recombinant APP-751 and APP-770 inhibited trypsin and chymotrypsin activity, whereas APP-695 did not. Growth of a human fibroblast cell line, A-1, that required APP for complete growth, was restored upon addition of secreted recombinant APP-695 or APP-751. Thus, the appropriately sized, secreted recombinant APP proteins produced in this expression system are biologically active.
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PMID:Expression of active secreted forms of human amyloid beta-protein precursor by recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells. 194 49

We have expressed the 57-amino acid Kunitz domain of the Alzheimer's beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP751) as a bacterial fusion protein. The protease inhibitory properties of the purified fusion protein, BX9, were virtually identical in all respects tested to those of purified secreted APP751. Both proteins strongly inhibited pancreatic trypsin (Kis = 0.2 and 0.3 nM) and less well epidermal growth factor-binding protein (Kis = 1 and 3.5 nM), alpha-chymotrypsin (Kis = 3 and 6 nM), and the gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor (Kis = 8 and 9 M). Neither protein appreciably inhibited plasma and pancreatic kallikreins, thrombin, lung tryptase, neutrophil elastase, or cathepsin G. The remarkable similarity of the protease inhibitory profile of BX9 to that of secreted APP751 suggests that proper intramolecular disulfide bond formation has occurred in the bacterial fusion protein and leads to the conclusion that the amyloid precursor protein Kunitz domain is a relatively specific inhibitor of only a few trypsin-like arginine esterases.
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PMID:The protease inhibitory properties of the Alzheimer's beta-amyloid precursor protein. 211 13

Protease nexin-2 (PN-2) is a protease inhibitor that is synthesized and secreted by a variety of extravascular cells including human fibroblasts. It forms sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes with trypsin, the epidermal growth factor binding protein and the gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor. Recently we reported that PN-2 is the secreted form of the amyloid beta-protein precursor (APP) and is a potent inhibitor of chymotrypsin. Here we describe a two-step procedure to purify PN-2/APP using a monoclonal antibody immunoaffinity column. We also quantitated the protease inhibitory properties of purified PN-2/APP on a number of serine proteases. PN-2/APP was a potent inhibitor of coagulation factor XIa with a Ki = 2.9 x 10(-10). The inhibition of factor XIa by PN-2/APP was augmented by heparin and resulted in a Ki = 5.5 x 10(-11) M. Trypsin and chymotrypsin were also effectively inhibited with a Ki = 4.2 x 10(-10) and 1.6 x 10(-9), respectively. PN-2/APP also inhibited the epidermal growth factor binding protein, the gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor, and chymase and plasmin to a lesser extent. In view of recent findings that PN-2/APP is contained in alpha-granules of platelets and is secreted upon platelet activation, the potent inhibition of factor XIa suggests that PN-2/APP may play a regulatory role in the coagulation pathway at vascular wound sites. In addition, these studies define biochemical activities of PN-2/APP which may be involved in regulating proteases that lead to the generation and deposition of the beta-protein in neurodegenerative lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome.
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PMID:Immunopurification and protease inhibitory properties of protease nexin-2/amyloid beta-protein precursor. 211 43

Senile plaques, often surrounded by abnormally grown neurites, are characteristic of Alzheimer's diseased brain. The core of the plaque is mainly composed of amyloid beta protein (beta-AP), two of whose three precursors (APP) have serine proteinase inhibitor regions (APPI). APPI derivatives containing 60, 72 or 88 amino-acid fragments (APPI-60, APPI-72 and APPI-88, respectively) of the longest APP were produced in COS-1 cell culture medium, with the APPI cDNA ligated to the signal sequence of tissue plasminogen activator. The secreted APPIs were purified by sequential acetone precipitation followed by affinity chromatography using immobilized trypsin. These three APPIs and O-glycosylation-site-mutated APPI showed similar inhibitory activity against trypsin, chymotrypsin and plasmin. The purified APPI-72 was found to inhibit trypsin (Ki = 1.1 x 10(-10) M) and chymotrypsin (Ki = 5.8 x 10(-9) M) most strongly, and to inhibit leukocyte elastase (Ki = 7.9 x 10(-7) M) and several blood coagulation proteinases (Ki = 0.46-12 x 10(-7) M), but not urokinase or thrombin. The observed inhibition pattern was quite different from that of protease nexin I, one of serine proteinase inhibitors possessing neurite outgrowth activity. This suggests that the physiological roles of APPI are different from those of protease nexin I, and that APPI could not cause aberrant growth of neurite into the plaque. The presence of APPI having strong inhibitory activity in the brain might lead to the formation of amyloid deposits by preventing complete degradation of APPs.
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PMID:Enzyme specificity of proteinase inhibitor region in amyloid precursor protein of Alzheimer's disease: different properties compared with protease nexin I. 218 Apr 85

The protease inhibitor alpha-1-antichymotrypsin, which binds to chymotrypsin-like enzymes in a sodium dodecyl sulfate-resistant manner, has been shown recently to be both a normal constituent of brain and an integral component of the neuritic plaques that form in Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease. We have now identified in rat brain a Mr 25,000 alpha-1-antichymotrypsin-binding protein classified as a chymotrypsin-like protease by its inhibitor profile and substrate specificity. Release of 125I-labeled breakdown products from bands containing the protease in substrate-linked polyacrylamide gels was examined in parallel with hydrolysis of tetrapeptide chromogenic substrates in vitro to establish conditions under which the Mr 25,000 protease was the only activity being measured in vitro. The protease was completely membrane associated but was extractable using 1 M MgCl2; prior extraction of detergent- and low ionic strength-soluble proteins from membranes was used to increase its specific activity. The formation of sodium dodecyl sulfate-resistant bonds between human alpha-1-antichymotrypsin and the protease (kassoc = 2.9 X 10(6) M-1 s-1) was used to titrate the concentration of free protease solubilized from membranes. The protease cleaved both succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide, and methoxy-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Met-p-nitroanilide, the latter being of interest because cleavage after a methionine residue is predicted to generate the amino terminus of the neuritic plaque component beta-amyloid from its precursor protein. In fact, the solubilized protease degraded 90% of membrane-associated beta-amyloid precursor protein detected by Western blot analysis. The protease was kinetically distinct from both chymotrypsin and cathepsin G in direct comparisons and did not match kinetic values published for the rat mast cell proteases against comparable substrates; we therefore refer to the protease with the descriptive acronym clipsin (for chymotrypsin-like protease). Proteases similar to and potentially identical to clipsin were detected by enzymography in other organs from rat (most notably spleen and adult lung). The enzyme in brain was distinguished by a narrow window of elevated activity surrounding postnatal day 5, which was 12-14-fold higher than levels in day 1 or adult brain. Because independent lines of evidence suggest that a brain chymotrypsin-like protease may be involved in the etiology of Down's syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, clipsin is discussed as a candidate for such a role.
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PMID:Clipsin, a chymotrypsin-like protease in rat brain which is irreversibly inhibited by alpha-1-antichymotrypsin. 230 81

Protease nexin-II (PN-II) is a protease inhibitor that forms SDS-resistant inhibitory complexes with the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-binding protein, the gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor, and trypsin. The properties of PN-II indicate that it has a role in the regulation of certain proteases in the extracellular environment. Here we describe more of the amino-acid sequence of PN-II and its identity to the deduced sequence of the amyloid beta-protein precursor (APP). Amyloid beta-protein is present in neuritic plaques and cerebrovascular deposits in individuals with Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome. A monoclonal antibody against PN-II (designated mAbP2-1) recognized PN-II in immunoblots of serum-free culture medium from human glioblastoma cells and neuroblastoma cells, as well as in homogenates of normal and Alzheimer's disease brains. In addition, mAbP2-1 stained neuritic plaques in Alzheimer's disease brain. PN-II was a potent inhibitor of chymotrypsin with an inhibition constant Ki of 6 x 10(-10)M. Together, these data demonstrate that PN-II and APP are probably the same protein. The regulation of extracellular proteolysis by PN-II and the deposition of at least parts of the molecule in senile plaques is consistent with previous reports that implicate altered proteolysis in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.
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PMID:Protease nexin-II, a potent antichymotrypsin, shows identity to amyloid beta-protein precursor. 250 28

The Alzheimer's disease related protein, amyloid beta-protein precursor (A beta PP), contains a domain homologous to Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors (KPI). The recombinant KPI domain of A beta PP is a potent inhibitor of coagulation factors XIa and IXa and functions as an anticoagulant in vitro. Here we report the expression, purification, and characterization of a reactive center lysine mutant of the KPI domain of A beta PP (KPI-Lys17). An expression plasmid for the KPI-Lys17 domain of A beta PP encoded amino acids 285-345 of the A beta PP cDNA containing a lysine substitution at arginine 17 in the KPI domain. The secreted 61-amino acid product was purified to homogeneity and functionally characterized. The protease inhibitory properties of the KPI-Lys17 domain were compared to those of the native KPI domain of A beta PP. Both KPI domains equally inhibited trypsin, chymotrypsin, and coagulation factors IXa and Xa. However, the KPI-Lys17 domain was an approximately 25-fold less effective inhibitor of coagulation factor XIa resulting in markedly less prolongation of the activated partial thromboplastin time compared to the native KPI domain of A beta PP. On the other hand, the KPI-Lys17 domain was an approximately 10- and 5-fold better inhibitor of plasmin in a chromogenic substrate assay and in a fibrinolytic assay, respectively, than the native KPI domain of A beta PP. Together, these studies suggest that the KPI-Lys17 domain has enhanced anti-fibrinolytic and diminished factor XIa inhibitory properties compared to the native KPI domain of A beta PP.
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PMID:Enhanced plasmin inhibition by a reactive center lysine mutant of the Kunitz-type protease inhibitor domain of the amyloid beta-protein precursor. 755 14


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