Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.21.7 (plasmin)
 9,023 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA), a serine protease which converts the zymogen plasminogen to the active protease plasmin, is believed to regulate neurite extension and neural cell migration by modulating extracellular metabolism. The highly polysialylated form of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM-H) is strongly expressed in the developing brain and is believed to play a role in organizing the neural network. In this report, we incubated neonatal rat brain homogenates with human tPA and rat plasminogen in order to determine whether NCAM-H would be degraded. NCAM-H was degraded by plasmin which was formed from rat plasminogen by human tPA. The degradation was inhibited by the addition of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) or aprotinin. These results suggest a possible contribution of the tPA-plasmin system to NCAM-H turnover in the developing brain.
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PMID:Proteolysis of highly polysialylated NCAM by the tissue plasminogen activator-plasmin system in rats. 962 2

In an attempt to identify the functions of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in hippocampal synaptic plasticity, we investigated the relationship between the two molecules by focusing on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), an essential enzyme in this process. NCAM clustering in cultured hippocampal neurons transiently induced MAPK within 10min. Moreover, soluble NCAM also induced a Ras-dependent MAPK activation. Conversely, MAPK activation led to an increase in the expressions of all three isoforms of NCAM. Treatment of neurons with tPA and plasminogen induced a Ras-dependent MAPK activation and tPA-plasmin degradation of NCAM was mediated in a MAPK-dependent manner. Soluble NCAM transiently inhibited tPA mRNA expression levels in a MAPK-dependent manner, while stimulation of MAPK alone induced tPA reduction in cells. These results collectively indicate that NCAM and tPA reciprocally act as important regulators in the modulation of synaptic plasticity via a Ras-MAPK-involved signaling pathway. In turn, MAPK activation may cause tPA degradation or a decrease in expression to promote synaptic plasticity.
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PMID:Reciprocal actions of NCAM and tPA via a Ras-dependent MAPK activation in rat hippocampal neurons. 1238 26

L1 neural cell adhesion molecule is the founding member of the L1 subfamily of the immunoglobulin superfamily and plays an important role in the overall development of both the central and peripheral nervous systems, making it an attractive candidate for promoting neural regeneration following injury. Currently, L1 used for experimental studies is primarily mammalian-derived; however, the insect cell expression system described here provides an alternative source of recombinant L1 with equivalent bioactivity. A 140 kDa L1 fragment based on a physiological plasmin cleavage site in the extracellular domain was cloned and expressed with a C-terminal 6x histidine tag. Recombinant insect cell-derived L1 was analyzed by Western blot using an antibody to human L1 to confirm immunogenicity and to optimize infection conditions for recombinant L1 production. The recombinant protein was secreted by insect cells, efficiently purified under non-denaturing conditions using dialysis followed by metal affinity chromatography, and analyzed by SDS-PAGE to produce a single band of the expected approximate 140 kDa size. The bioactivity of insect cell-derived L1 was compared to mammalian-derived L1-Fc and poly-L-lysine (PLL) using chick embryonic forebrain neurons. The results show comparable, robust neurite outgrowth at 24h on insect cell-derived L1 and mammalian-derived L1-Fc, with significantly longer neurites than those observed on PLL. Future studies will examine the immobilization of L1 to biomaterial surfaces in physiologically appropriate orientation via the C-terminal 6x histidine tag and will investigate their application in promoting axonal regeneration in the injured nervous system.
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PMID:Baculovirus expression and bioactivity of a soluble 140 kDa extracellular cleavage fragment of L1 neural cell adhesion molecule. 1806 Aug 6

Polysialic acid (polySia) is a linear polymer of sialic acid that modifies neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in the vertebrate brain. PolySia is a large and exclusive molecule that functions as a negative regulator of cell-cell interactions. Recently, we demonstrated that polySia can specifically bind fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and BDNF; however, the protective effects of polySia on the proteolytic cleavage of these proteins remain unknown, although heparin/heparan sulfate has been shown to impair the cleavage of FGF2 by trypsin. Here, we analyzed the protective effects of polySia on the proteolytic cleavage of FGF2 and proBDNF/BDNF. We found that polySia protected intact FGF2 from tryptic activity via the specific binding of extended polySia chains on NCAM to FGF2. Oligo/polySia also functioned to impair the processing of proBDNF by plasmin via binding of oligo/polySia chains on NCAM. In addition, the polySia structure synthesized by mutated polysialyltransferase, ST8SIA2/STX(SNP7), which was previously identified from a schizophrenia patient, was impaired for these functions compared with polySia produced by normal ST8SIA2. Taken together, these data suggest that the protective effects of polySia toward FGF2 and proBDNF may be involved in the regulation of the concentrations of these neurologically active molecules.
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PMID:Protective effects of polysialic acid on proteolytic cleavage of FGF2 and proBDNF/BDNF. 2616 59