Strong crossreaction of human anti-aprotinin antibodies from heart transplant patient with [Arg15]aprotinin.

We detected anti-aprotinin antibodies by an enzyme immunoassay in serum of a 33 year old man who showed anaphylactic reactions during heart transplantation under aprotinin reexposition. The antibodies were isolated by affinity chromatography by aprotinin immobilized on CNBr activated Sepharose. The crossreactivity was tested by a competitive enzyme immunoassay (50% inhibition) against different aprotinin homologues and two human Kunitz-type protease inhibitors, bikunin and TFPI. In comparison with native aprotinin (immunoreactivity = 100%) the crossreaction of the homologue [Arg15]aprotinin was 76%, of [Val15]aprotinin 15% and of isoaprotinin 1, [Ala14,38]aprotinin and [seco15/16]aprotinin less than 10%. An immunoreactivity with bikunin and TFPI was not detected. Similar results were obtained with polyclonal anti-aprotinin antibodies from rabbit. Our results show that human anti-aprotinin antibodies are mainly directed against the reactive site of aprotinin. From this we conclude that the reactive site exposes the major epitope resulting in a major target site for antibodies in a species independent way, and therefore, it is obvious that the recombinant aprotinin homologue [Arg15]aprotinin, which is scheduled for therapy in open-heart surgery, will have similar immunogenic effects as native aprotinin.

BPTI backbone variants and implications for inhibitory activity.

Structural variants of BPTI were synthesized en route an enzymatic-chemical semisynthesis. The P1-P2 amide bond of the inhibitor molecule, which, as donor, contributes a hydrogen bond towards trypsin in the enzyme-inhibitor complex, was replaced by either a ketomethylene function or an ester bond yielding molecules with inhibitory activity. The two backbone-mutated BPTI derivatives showed increased dissociation constants of their respective trypsin complexes, obviously due to the lack of a single hydrogen-bond interaction in the enzyme-inhibitor complex.

Chemical semisynthesis of aprotinin homologues and derivatives mutated in P' positions.

An extended concept for the replacement of amino acids in the P' region of aprotinin by chemical semisynthesis is presented. Either fragment condensation with dipeptides protected as tert-butyl ester or stepwise introduction of two single amino acid-tert-butyl esters into a partially esterified aprotinin derivative (with free Lys15-carboxyl group) lacking the amino acids Ala16 and Arg17 leads to aprotinin homologues and derivatives mutated in the P'1 and P'2 position. This method may complement the recently reported enzymatic synthesis by enabling access to aprotinin homologues and derivatives, which cannot be prepared enzymatically. The synthesis of [Ala17]BPTI and [seco-17/18]BPTI is described in detail.

Enzymatic semisynthesis of aprotinin homologues mutated in P' positions.

The replacement of amino acids in the P'1 and P'2 position of aprotinin, the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, is described. Using the "modified" inhibitor as starting material, with the hydrolyzed reactive-site peptide bond Lys15-Ala16, the residues P'1 (Ala16) and P'2 (Arg17) were split off by the action of aminopeptidase K. Incorporation of suitable dipeptides containing a basic residue (Lys or Arg) in the C-terminal position was carried out in a "one pot" reaction involving trypsin-catalyzed coupling. In this way, the native fragment Ala16-Arg17 was reintroduced and also replaced by Gly-Arg, Ala-Lys, and Leu-Arg yielding intact inhibitor molecules. The mechanism for incorporation of dipeptides was investigated by treating the aprotinin derivative with the Arg17-Ile18 peptide bond hydrolyzed with trypsin under proteosynthetic conditions. We established that only inhibitor molecules cleaved between Lys15 and Xaa16 are intermediates leading to the desired products. The inhibitory properties of the new aprotinin homologues were tested, and the significance of the P'1 residue for the inhibition of trypsin, kallikrein, and chymotrypsin was deduced.

Enzymatic fragment substitution as a tool in protein design.

An easy and rapid enzymatic method is described which allows replacement of P'-residues in bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. Insertion of Xaa-Arg or Xaa-Lys into a BPTI fragment lacking P1' = Ala16 and P2' = Arg17 was carried out in a "one pot" reaction catalysed by trypsin in the presence of 80% 1,4 butanediol.

Activation of the human leukocyte proteinases elastase and cathepsin G by various surfactants.

A systematic study comprising 28 synthetic ionic and nonionic surfactants was carried out in order to examine their effect on the activity of elastase and cathepsin G from human leukocytes against 4-nitroanilide substrates. The whole spectrum, ranging from a complete loss to a pronounced rise in enzymatic activity, was observed at a 0.1% (w/v) surfactant concentration. Most significantly, benzalkonium chloride led to a five-fold increase in elastase activity.

Semisynthetic aprotinin derivatives with specific alterations at the reactive-site peptide bond can be used to study structure-function relationships.

Aprotinin derivatives with decarboxylated lysine, arginine or valine at position 15, the P1 position of modified aprotinin, were produced semisynthetically. Modified aprotinin with oxidatively deaminated Arg1 and Ala16 was also synthesized. Specific reduction of this derivative yielded a modified aprotinin with lactic acid at position 16, the P'1 position. Only the aprotinin derivatives with decarboxylated Lys15 or Arg15 showed moderate inhibitory activity against trypsin and kallikrein, despite the absence of the carboxyl group. The KD values measured were in the range of 10(-7) M. The aprotinin derivative with decarboxylated valine showed no inhibitory activity; neither against trypsin, kallikrein and chymotrypsin, nor against the human leukocyte elastase. From these data it was concluded that the ion-pair interaction of the Lys15, or the Arg15 inhibitor side-chain with the aspartate in the trypsin specificity pocket is important for the inhibitory activity. Furthermore, the KD values indicated that the interaction of the reactive-site's carbonyl group with the enzyme's oxyanion hole also contributes to the inhibitory activity. These two interactions are important, but not essential for inhibitory activity. In contrast to these findings, the existence of an alpha-amino group at the P'1 position seems to be essential for inhibitory activity. The synthesized aprotinin derivatives lacking an alpha-amino group at this position were without any inhibitory activity against serine proteinases.

Semisynthesis of Arg15, Glu15, Met15, and Nle15-aprotinin involving enzymatic peptide bond resynthesis.

The semisynthesis of homologues of aprotinin, the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor, is described. The P1 lysine15 residue was replaced by two methods. The first procedure, which consisted of two enzymatic steps for the incorporation of other amino acids has previously been described. The second approach consisted of six steps of both enzymatic and chemical nature. The modified inhibitor, in which the lysine15-alanine16 peptide bond is hydrolyzed, was used as the starting material. All carboxyl groups of the modified inhibitor were esterified with methanol; the lysine15 methylester group was then selectively hydrolyzed. Afterward, lysine15 itself was split off. Arginine, glutamic acid, methionine, and L-2-aminohexanoic acid (norleucine, Nle) were incorporated using water-soluble carbodiimide combined with an acylation catalyst. The methylester group was used to prevent polymerization. The reactive-site peptide bonds were resynthesized using either chymotrypsin or trypsin.

Aprotinin derivatives with chromophoric leaving groups can be used as highly selective active-site titrants for serine proteinases and permit the determination of kinetic constants of enzyme-inhibitor complexes.

This paper reports a novel and valuable approach to active-site titration. The starting substance for the preparation of the active-site titrants is aprotinin (bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor) in which the reactive-site peptide bond, Lys15-Ala16, is split. Two cystine disulfide bonds hold together the two peptide chains. The Lys15 of the reactive site is substituted by arginine-, phenylalanine- and valine-4-nitroanilide or by valine-7-amido-4-methylcoumarin. The different incorporated amino acid residues correspond to different specificities against serine proteinases. Serine proteinases with suitable specificity are able to remove 4-nitroaniline or 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin from these aprotinin derivatives while at the same time resynthesis of the reactive-site peptide bond occurs. The proteinase is then trapped in a stable enzyme-inhibitor complex, which prevents the proteinase from releasing further leaving groups. The quantity of 4-nitroaniline or 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin, which can be assayed spectrophotometrically or fluorometrically is equimolar to the quantity of proteinase used and trapped. The aprotinin derivatives with an incorporated Phe15 or Val15 residue are highly specific for chymotrypsin or for elastase from human leukocytes, respectively. The kinetic constants kon and koff of the enzyme-inhibitor complexes, and hence the equilibrium dissociation constants, can be calculated from the respective titration curves.

Preparation of chemically 'mutated' aprotinin homologues by semisynthesis. P1 substitutions change inhibitory specificity.

The semisynthesis of homologues of aprotinin (BPTI) is described. The P1 amino acid residue of these homologues was substituted by other amino acids using peptide synthetic methods. The reactive-site-modified inhibitor (with the Lys15-Ala16 peptide bond hydrolyzed) was used as starting material. All carboxyl groups of the modified inhibitor were esterified with methanol, then the Lys15 methyl ester group was hydrolyzed selectively. Afterwards, Lys15 itself was split off. A new amino acid residue was incorporated by using water-soluble carbodiimide combined with an acylation catalyst. tert-Butyl-ester-protected amino acids were used for reinsertion. The method was tested by re-insertion of Lys15 to reconstitute the original inhibitor. Thirteen BPTI homologues with coded (Lys, Glu, Gly, Ala, Val, Ile, Leu) or uncoded amino acids (Abu, Ape, aIle, Ahx, tLeu, Neo) in position 15 were synthesized and the specificity of the inhibitors investigated. Amongst these, [Val15]BPTI was shown to be an excellent inhibitor for human polymorphonuclear leukocyte elastase having a complex dissociation constant of 0.11 nM. This inhibitor showed no detectable affinity to bovine pancreatic trypsin.

The pH dependence of the equilibrium constant KHyd for the hydrolysis of the Lys15-Ala16 reactive-site peptide bond in bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (aprotinin).

The pH dependence of the equilibrium constant KHyd for the hydrolysis of the Lys15-Ala16 reactive-site peptide bond of the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (aprotinin) was investigated over the pH range 2.3-6.5. Solutions of aprotinin, modified aprotinin with the Lys15-Ala16 peptide bond cleaved and mixtures of both species were incubated with 10 mol% porcine beta-trypsin. The state of equilibrium was determined by analytical cation-exchange HPLC. The KHyd values obtained did not exactly obey the simple equation of Dobry et al. (1952), which had to be used in an extended form with two additional parameters for a satisfactory fit. The pH-independent equilibrium constant is 0.90 and the pK values of the Lys15 carboxyl group and of the Ala16 amino group are 3.10 and 8.22, respectively. The pK of an additional group is apparently perturbed by the peptide-bond hydrolysis. It is 4.60 in the native and 4.40 in the modified aprotinin.

Enzymatic resynthesis of the "reactive site" bond in the modified aprotinin derivatives [seco-15/16]aprotinin and [Di-seco-15/16,39/40]aprotinin.

On incubation of [di-seco-15/16,39/40]aprotinin with human plasmin, porcine pancreatic kallikrein or bovine or porcine trypsin in neutral or slightly alkaline solutions [seco-39/40]aprotinin is slowly formed with enzymatic resynthesis of the reactive-site bond 15/16. With chymotrypsin, however, further degradation of [di-seco-15/16,39/40]aprotinin takes place without enzymatic resynthesis. The apparent rate constants for the synthesis of [seco-39/40]aprotinin with kallikrein and trypsin have been determined and indicate that the bond-forming reaction is 10-200-fold slower with [di-seco-15/16,39/40]aprotinin than with [seco-15/16]aprotinin. The newly formed [seco-39/40]aprotinin has similar kinetic constants for the complexation with its cognate enzymes as aprotinin, indicating that any distortion of the secondary binding region due to cleavage of the Arg39-Ala40 bond does not seriously influence binding and affinities.

Pressure induced structural fluctuations in hemoglobin, studied by EPR-spectroscopy.

A quartz based cavity for pressure dependent EPR measurements on liquid samples allowing pressures up to 0.6 GPa was constructed. First investigations with this setup were done on spin labeled horse hemoglobin derivatives both in ferric and ferrous state of oxidation. The second derivative EPR spectra show changes of the label's mobility, which are not correlated with spin state changes of the Fe-porphyrin complex, but which point out structural fluctuations inside the globin protein matrices.

Thermodynamic and magnetic resonance studies on the hydration of polymers: II. Protein-water interactions in powered ribonuclease.

ESR studies on spin-labeled amorphous RNase A as a function of varying concentrations of sorbed H2O and D2O will be presented. A relaxation analysis of saturation transfer (ST-)ESR spectra of 14N(1H) nitroxide spin-label molecules essentially fixed at amino acid residue His-105 will be given. A characteristic correlation has been observed between the microdynamic behavior--expressed by the rotational correlation times of the paramagnetic label--and the macroscopic thermodynamic entropy for the sorption process of H2O and D2O at RNase. This correlation is particularly pronounced at low water concentrations, vis., nH2O/nprotein less than or equal to 100. A significant difference in this concentration range exists between the two systems "RNase-H2O" and "RNase-D2O", which is manifested not only by the thermodynamic data but also by the microdynamic behavior extracted from the corresponding non-linear ESR absorption line shapes.

Characterization and sequence determination of six aprotinin homologues from bovine lungs.

Six Kunitz inhibitors, which are dissimilar to aprotinin, can be isolated from bovine lungs. These homologues cannot be distinguished from aprotinin, in respect to their inhibitory specificity. They have, however, different amino-acid compositions and a different degree of basicity. The entire primary structures of these inhibitors were elucidated by automated Edman sequencing. Besides the known Glp-1-aprotinin another aprotinin homologue (des-Ala58-aprotinin) was isolated, which could result from a different proteolytic processing of the bovine aprotinin precursor. The other homologues can be denoted as aprotinin isoinhibitors, showing several amino-acid replacements compared to aprotinin and which also appear in the area of the contact region.

Pyroglutamyl-aprotinin, a new aprotinin homologue from bovine lungs--isolation, properties, sequence analysis and characterization using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance in solution.

A new Kunitz-inhibitor, which is different from aprotinin was extracted from bovine lungs with methanol, further purified by affinity chromatography on trypsin-Sepharose CL-6B and by repeated cation exchange chromatography on CM-Sephadex C-25. The inhibitor, which is less basic than aprotinin was characterized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and ion-exchange HPLC. The N-terminus is blocked by pyroglutamic acid (Glu-1). After enzymatic removal of this residue with pyroglutamate aminopeptidase, complete identity with the primary structure of aprotinin was established by sequencing the inhibitor, which had been oxidized with performic acid, and by sequencing a tryptic fragment. The occurrence of the inhibitor, which can be denoted as pyroglutamyl-aprotinin or Glu-1-aprotinin, but which cannot be distinguished from aprotinin regarding its inhibitory specificity, is obviously the result of a different proteolytic processing of the bovine aprotinin precursor. By using CD and NMR-techniques it was shown that the N-terminus of the inhibitor is blocked, and that the conformation and the internal mobility correspond with those of aprotinin.

Stability studies on derivatives of the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor.

Gibbs energy, enthalpy, and entropy data were determined for two selectively modified analogues of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) to provide a model free set of thermodynamic parameters that characterize (a) the energetic and entropic contributions of the 14-38 disulfide bridge and (b) the variation of the overall stability resulting from the introduction of two negative charges into the positions 14 and 38. The two BPTI analogues studied were BPTI having Cys-14 and Cys-38 carboxymethylated (BPTI-RCOM) and BPTI having Cys-14 and Cys-38 carboxamidomethylated (BPTI-RCAM). They were obtained from native BPTI by reduction, followed by modification of the sulfhydryl groups with iodoacetic acid or iodoacetamide, respectively. The temperature dependence of all thermodynamic parameters of BPTI is drastically altered in the absence of the third disulfide bridge. Even the apparently minute difference of two dissociable carboxyl groups instead of uncharged amide groups in positions 14 and 38 has surprisingly large effects on the temperature dependence of the stabilization enthalpy. The Gibbs energy of BPTI at pH 2, 25 degrees C, decreases by approximately 70% when the 14-38 disulfide bond is cleaved. BPTI-RCOM is more stable than BPTI-RCAM in the whole pH range studied. The difference of -4 kJ/mol at pH 2, 25 degrees C, is reduced to -2.7 kJ/mol at pH 5, 25 degrees C. This finding demonstrates that the presence of two negative charges reduces the higher stability of BPTI-RCOM slightly; however, the overall effect of the two charges is still a stabilization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Kinetics of inhibition of human plasma kallikrein by a site-specific modified inhibitor Arg15-aprotinin: evaluation using a microplate system and comparison with other proteases.

Human plasma kallikrein, a product of contact-activated plasma proteolysis, is moderately inhibited by aprotinin, a small polypeptide from bovine lung that has been used as an experimental drug in human disease states. Aprotinin has a Lys residue in the P1 (reactive center) position occupying residue 15. Since kallikrein is an arginine-directed serine protease, we hypothesized that an altered form of aprotinin, Arg15-aprotinin, might be a better inhibitor. Kinetic evaluations were performed in 96-well microplates. We found that the KL (loose or Michaelis-Menten complex) was unchanged by the modification. However, the association rate constant was increased from 1.14 X 10(4) (mol/L)-1s-1 to 1.5 X 10(5) (mol/L)-1s1, thus indicating that the inhibition rate was increased 14-fold for the modified protein. The Ki (at equilibrium) was decreased from 3.2 X 10(-7) mol/L to 1.5 X 10(-8) mol/L after substituting Arg for Lys in the P1 position. Therefore, the modified inhibitor binds to plasma kallikrein more tightly than the natural protein. We also investigated the effect of Arg15-aprotinin on tissue kallikrein, plasmin, factor XIIa, factor XIa, and thrombin and found that the Ki slightly decreased from 5.1 X 10(-7) mol/L to 1.2 X 10(-7) mol/L for tissue kallikrein and slightly decreased from 2 X 10(-8) mol/L to 1 X 10(-8) mol/L for plasmin. Arg15-aprotinin did not inhibit thrombin or factor XIIa, even though both enzymes are arginine-directed serine proteases. However, factor XIa, although it was not inhibited by aprotinin, had a Ki of 3.4 X 10(-8) mol/L for Arg15-aprotinin. Therefore, Arg15-aprotinin is a more effective inhibitor of plasma kallikrein as well as factor XIa but shows minimal preference for plasmin and tissue kallikrein. This study also indicates that it is possible and practical to perform kinetic analyses directly in microplates.