Non-pancreatic proteases of the chymotrypsin family. I. A chymotrypsin-like protease from rat mast cells

Activation of caspases and serine proteases during apoptosis induced by onconase (Ranpirnase)

Onconase (ONC) is a ribonuclease isolated from amphibian oocytes that is cytostatic and cytotoxic to numerous tumor lines. ONC shows in vivo anti-tumor activity in mouse tumor models and is currently in Phase III clinical trials. Previous studies indicated that ONC induces apoptosis of the target cells most likely along the mitochondrial pathway involving caspase-9 as the initiator caspase. We have recently developed an approach to detect the activation of serine (Ser) proteases during apoptosis. The method is based on affinity labeling of Ser protease active centers with fluorochrome-tagged inhibitors. The aim of the present study was to reveal whether Ser proteases are activated during apoptosis induced by ONC. Human leukemic HL-60 cells were treated with ONC for up to 72 h and then exposed to 5(6)-carboxyfluoresceinyl-L-phenylalanylchloromethyl ketone (FFCK) or 5(6)-carboxyfluoresceinyl-L-leucylchloromethyl ketone (FLCK), the fluorescing green reagents reactive with active centers of the chymotrypsin-like enzymes that cleave proteins at the Phe (FFCK) or Leu (FLCK) site. Activation of caspases was assayed in the same cells using sulforhodamine-labeled (fluorescing red) pan-caspases inhibitor (SR-VAD-FMK). Administration of 1.67 microM ONC into cultures of HL-60 cells led to the appearance of cells that bound SR-VAD-FMK as well as FFCK and FLCK. Most labeled cells had features characteristic of apoptosis. We interpret the binding of these ligands, which was irreversible and withstood cell fixation, as revealing activation of caspases and chymotrypsin-like Ser proteases. Because the induction of binding of each of the three ligands occurred at approximately the same time, the data suggest that during apoptosis caspases and Ser proteases may transactivate each other. The intercellular and subcellular pattern of binding SR-VAD-FMK vs FFCK or vs FLCK was different indicating a variability in abundance and localization of these enzymes within individual apoptotic cells. The FFCK- and FLCK-reactive proteins were of similar molecular mass, approximately 59 and approximately 57 kDa, respectively.

Assay of caspase activation in situ combined with probing plasma membrane integrity to detect three distinct stages of apoptosis

Activation of cysteine-aspartic acid specific proteases (caspases) in situ, in live cells, can be detected using fluorochrome-labeled inhibitors of caspases (FLICA), the reagents that covalently bind to the active center of these enzymes. In the present study, this assay was combined with a probe of plasma membrane capacity to exclude the cationic fluorochrome propidium iodide (PI). Apoptosis of HL-60 cells was induced by DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin (CPT). The cells were then incubated with FAM-VAD-fluoro-methyl ketone (FMK), the pan-caspase FLICA, and subsequently briefly exposed to PI. The intensity of cellular green fluorescence of FLICA and red fluorescence of PI was measured by laser scanning cytometry (LSC) as well as by flow cytometry. Four distinct subpopulations were distinguished based on differences in fluorescence intensity. The subpopulations represented the sequential transitions from the stage when (a) the cells were both FLICA and PI negative (FLICA-/PI-), through the stages when (b) their caspases become progressively activated (FLICA+/PI-), (c) when their plasma membrane ability to exclude PI was lost (FLICA+/PI+), and finally (d) when the cell propensity to bind FLICA was eliminated (FLICA-/PI+). By estimating the percentage of cells in each subpopulation at different time points after administration of CPT, it was possible to study the kinetics of the transitions. The cell entry to-and progression through-these substages was asynchronous. Following this "supravital" analysis, the cells may be fixed, permeabilized, their DNA stoichiometrically stained with PI and cell cycle distribution of each of the four subpopulations analyzed. The loss of cells' ability to bind FLICA at the late stage of apoptosis indicates that caspases are either inactivated, degraded or excreted at that time point. Hence, the late apoptotic cells may not be identified solely on the evidence of the presence of activated caspases. The direct transition from FLICA-/PI- to FLICA-/PI+, bypassing the FLICA+ stages, may be considered as the marker of a primary cell necrosis.

Biological functions of serine proteases in mast cells in allergic inflammation

Serine proteases in mast cell granules, such as chymase, atypical chymase, and tryptase, which are major proteins in the granules, may play important roles in the process of immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated degranulation and in pathobiological alterations in tissues. Indeed, inhibitors of chymase, substrate analogs, and antichymase F(ab')2, but not inhibitors of tryptase, markedly inhibited histamine release induced by IgE-receptor bridging but not that induced by Ca ionophore. In contrast, inhibitors of metalloprotease inhibited histamine release induced not only by IgE-receptor bridging but also by Ca ionophore. These results suggest that chymase and metalloprotease are involved at different steps in the process of degranulation. The extents of inhibition of histamine release were closely correlated with the amounts of the inhibitors of chymase accumulated in the granules. After degranulation, the released proteases may in part contribute to pathobiological alterations in allergic disorders through generations of C3a anaphylatoxin and thrombin by human and rat tryptase, respectively, and those of angiotensin II and a chemotactic factor of neutrophils by human and rat chymase, respectively. Moreover, chymase and atypical chymase from rat were shown to destroy type IV collagen, and human tryptase was found to hydrolyze various plasma proteins, such as fibrinogen and high-molecular-weight kininogen. The biological activities of tryptase and chymase from rat may be regulated by their dissociation from and association with trypstatin, an endogenous inhibitor of these proteases.

The question of chymase in cultured muscle cells

An alkaline proteinase, identical to mast cell chymase, has been described by a number of laboratories as being associated with myofibrils extracted from adult rat skeletal muscle tissue. A more recent study has indicated that chymase may be an intrinsic protein in the rat myocyte. The present study of rat myogenic cell lines, using more stringent controls and a probe of more highly defined specificity, supports the view that (i) chymase originates from mast cells of the interstitium and (ii) chymase from mast cells becomes adsorbed to myofibrils of adult muscle during homogenization of this complex tissue.

Purification and identification of two serine class proteinases from dog mast biochemically and immunologically similar to human proteinases tryptase and chymase

Serine class proteinases with trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like specificity were purified from dog mastocytoma tissue. An antiserum was produced against the chymotrypsin-like proteinase. The antiserum reacted with mast cells in skin sections prepared from normal dogs consistent with the proteinase being a mast cell constituent. The antiserum also cross-reacted with the major chymotrypsin-like proteinase isolated from normal dog skin and partially cross-reacted with human skin chymase. No cross-reaction was detected with rat chymase. The trypsin-like proteinase from dog mastocytoma tissue was similar to tryptase isolated from human skin. It had a similar subunit structure, was not inhibited by many protein proteolytic enzyme inhibitors, bound to heparin, and reacted strongly with antiserum against human tryptase. Antiserum against human tryptase also reacted with mast cells in skin sections prepared from normal dog skin. No immunocytochemical labeling of rat skin mast cells was observed with anti-human tryptase. These studies establish the presence of a trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like proteinase in dog skin mast cells and provide immunological evidence which suggests that both proteinases are more closely related to human than rat mast cell proteinases. These immunological and biochemical relationships are important when comparing the roles of these proteinases in different animals.

Hyposmotic swelling leads to the expression of trypsin-like activity by rat peritoneal fluid mast cells

Rat peritoneal fluid mast cell present parallel increases in cell area (swelling), and in hydrolytic activity on the trypsin substrate p-tosyl arginine methyl ester (TAME), when placed in Tris buffers of concentrations between 0.15 and 0.03 M. Under these conditions, cells do not degranulate and preserve their trypsin-like enzyme activity after low speed centrifugation. Exposure to more dilute Tris buffers, between 0.015 and 0.003 M, leads to cell rupture accompanied by progressive degranulation and loss of activity on TAME. Protamine, a heparin antagonist prevented this loss when added to mast cells prior to hyposmotic lysis, or lysis by sonication or repeated periods of freezing and thawing. Enzyme activity released in the presence of protamine was fully recovered in supernates of cell lysates submitted to low speed centrifugation. Controlled swelling of mast cells propitiates the expression of trypsin-like activity, possibly by facilitating enzyme-substrate interaction. Cell lysis on the contrary, leads to inactivation of such activity, possibly by enzyme binding to heparin in exposed mast cell granules.

Purification to homogeneity of the human skin chymotryptic proteinase "chymase"

The chymotrypic proteinase "chymase" has been purified to apparent homogeneity from human skin. Our procedure differs from previously published partial purifications in that it does not involve affinity chromatography, most of the steps are carried out in 2 M KCl which stabilizes the enzyme, detergent is used to protect the enzyme in low-ionic-strength media, and troublesome concentration steps are avoided by using very small columns of high-capacity exchangers. The high-salt skin extract is applied successively to columns of hydroxyapatite, copper chelate Sepharose, and Sephadex G-100 in 2 M KCl. After dialysis against a zwitterionic detergent, the enzyme is adsorbed onto a 0.4-ml column of CM-Sepharose. An alkaline wash removes the remaining contaminants from the highly cationic enzyme, which is then eluted with 1 M KCl in a final volume of 2 ml. Sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis reveals a single diffuse band of Mr 30,000. Recoveries range from 20 to 40% with yields of 0.2 to 0.4 mg of enzyme from 200 g of skin. Specific activities vary from 600 to 1400 units/mg for the hydrolysis of acetyltyrosine ethyl ester.

The isolation and purification of a proteinase with chymotrypsin-like properties from ovine mucosal mast cells

A mast cell granule proteinase was purified from isolated ovine mucosal mast cells by cation exchange chromatography, which defined the conditions for enzyme purification from sheep gastric mucosae. Antibodies raised against the proteinase were used in subsequent purification procedures which yielded 78 micrograms of enzyme per 5 g wet wt of abomasal tissue. Immuno-histochemistry confirmed that mucosal mast cells were the source of the enzyme. The proteinase had chymotrypsin-like esterase activity, with a molecular weight between 19,000 and 25,000.

Chymotrypsin- and trypsin-type serine proteases in rat mast cells: properties and functions

Two of the major enzymes present in and released from rat mast cells are chymotrypsin-type serine protease (chymase) and trypsin-type serine protease (tryptase), and these have been postulated to be important in the inflammatory reactions. There have been no clear data regarding the trypsin-type protease in rat mast cells. Tryptase was recently purified from rat peritoneal mast cells with an associated protein (trypstatin) that inhibited the protease activity above pH 7.5. Chymase was also purified from rat peritoneal cells by employing a one-step method involving hydrophobic chromatography on octyl-Sepharose 4B or arginine-Sepharose 4B. The properties of chymase and tryptase were described in relation to substrate specificity and their relative sensitivity to inhibitors. It was found that proteolytic activities of these enzymes were modulated by naturally occurring substances, such as phosphoglycerides, long-chain fatty acids, and trypstatin. There is as yet little evidence for the physiological roles of these enzymes in the inflammatory reaction. It has been found that the specific, low-molecular-weight inhibitor of chymase, chymostatin, and that of tryptase, leupeptin, inhibit histamine release induced by addition of anti-rat IgE to mast cells. However, the inhibitors with molecular weights of more than 6000 were found to have no effect in this process. The data suggest that chymase and tryptase in mast cell granules play a crucial or significant role in the process of degranulation.

Hormone-responsive alkaline proteinase in rat skeletal muscle is not a mast cell-derived enzyme

Proteinase activity was determined in myofibrils from intact rat skeletal muscle and from skeletal muscle myocytes grown in culture. In vivo administration of the mast cell degranulator compound 48/80 abolished the alkaline proteinase activity in myofibrils obtained from normal or streptozotocin-diabetic rats. Exposure of myocytes to compound 48/80 in cell cultures had no effect on their myofibrillar proteinase activity, nor did it affect the rate of overall protein degradation in these cells. Co-incubation of cultured mast cells (line P815Y) with myocytes followed by sonication of the cell mixture resulted in a marked reduction of the proteinase activity in the pellet fraction, suggesting that the mast cells contain inhibitor(s) of myofibrillar proteinase activity. It is suggested that the myofibril-bound alkaline proteinase activity is not a mast cell-derived enzyme but a genuine component of muscle cells. The in vivo 48/80-induced reduction of muscle myofibrillar proteinase activity appears to be due to release of a soluble inhibitory activity rather than removal of mast cell proteinase from the tissue by degranulation.

Susceptibility of muscle soluble proteins to degradation by mast cell chymase

We investigated the in vitro susceptibility of muscle soluble proteins to the major alkaline proteinase (chymase) from skeletal muscle tissue, an enzyme originating from intramuscular mast cells, but also present in certain muscle fibers. Cytoplasmic proteins from rat skeletal muscle tissue were fractionated into four groups according to their different isoelectric points: fraction A (pI 9.5-7.0), B (pI 7.0-5.6), C (pI 5.5-4.5) and D (pI 5.3-3.5). Chromatography of these fractions on octyl-Sepharose CL-4B revealed the presence of a higher percentage of hydrophobic proteins in fraction C and D as compared to fraction A and B. In vitro degradation of these protein fractions by chymase, isolated from rat skeletal muscle tissue, was monitored (a) by measuring the ability of these proteins to bind Coomassie G-250, and (b) by analyzing the digestion mixture in isoelectric focusing gels. Both methods revealed fraction B proteins to be degraded very rapidly. While there was also a significant breakdown of fraction A proteins, fraction C and D proteins were degraded only very slowly, if at all. These differences in degradability are not due to the presence of a proteinase inhibitor in fraction C and D. The results suggest that mast cell chymase preferentially degrades those groups of muscle soluble proteins, the constituents of which have neutral to basic isoelectric points and a relatively low surface hydrophobicity.

Hormone-responsive myofibrillar protease activity in cultured rat myoblasts

The effect of exposure to dexamethasone and serum-deprivation on myofibrillar protease activity was determined by following cleavage of [14C]globin by isolated myofibrils obtained from rat skeletal muscle in culture. Dexamethasone [10(-7) M] produced a 46% increase in protease activity, and serum-deprivation caused a 50% increase in activity over that of the enzyme in control cultures. The increases in proteolysis occurred concurrently with increased rate of overall protein degradation in these cells and were not associated with changes in cell viability. In cultured rat cardiac muscle cells dexamethasone failed to enhance myofibrillar protease activity, while serum-deprivation produced a 52% increase in the enzyme activity. Addition of insulin (50 mU/ml) to the cultures did not affect proteolysis or myofibrillar protease activity, but completely prevented the dexamethasone-induced increase of these activities. This effect of insulin suggests that the increase of muscle proteolysis in insulin-deficient diabetic animals reflects an enhanced response of the muscle to circulating glucocorticoids rather than a direct effect of insulin-deprivation on muscle proteolysis. Taken together, the present observations indicate that muscle cells in culture retain the ability to respond to catabolic stimuli by adaptive changes in the myofibrillar protease activity in a manner analogous to that of their parent tissue in the intact animal.

Cytochemical determination of granulocyte elastase and chymotrypsin in human myeloid cells and its application in acquired deficiency states and diagnosis of myeloid leukemia

Two cytochemical methods for detection of granulocytic elastase and chymotrypsin employing alanine and phenylalanine naphthyl esters were developed. Specificity of reaction with the ester substrates was proven by chloromethyl ketone inhibitors. The results of both staining methods were almost identical with the staining for naphthol AS-D chloroacetate (Cl Ac-O Nap AS-D) esterase, since Cl Ac-O Nap AS-D also reacts with granulocyte elastase and chymotrypsin. Mature neutrophils and myeloid precursors except myeloblasts are stained with all three substrates in peripheral blood and bone marrow. Mast cells, however, only react with Cl Ac-O Nap AS-D and the chymotrypsin substrate and not with the elastase substrate. In acute myeloid leukemia the three esterases appear in parallel at a somewhat later stage of maturation than myeloperoxidase. In blood smears from 380 hospital patients no hereditary elastase or chymotrypsin deficiency could be demonstrated. Staining for elastase and chymotrypsin was also normal in hereditary myeloperoxidase deficiency and chronic granulomatous disease. On the other hand 6% of the hospital patients and about two-thirds of patients with acute myeloid leukemia showed a partial elastase deficiency in more than 25% of the peripheral neutrophils.

Solubilization and initial biochemical characterization of an IgE-destroying enzyme on rat peritoneal mast cells

Previous studies had demonstrated that incubation of IgE with purified rat mast cells can result in the time and cell concentration-dependent destruction of the ability of the IgE to be bound to specific receptors on rat basophil leukemia cells. The IgE-destroying activity, which has an extremely acid pH optimum, resisted attempts at solubilization using detergents. However, it was solubilized in good yield by use of chaotropic salts and especially KOCN. The soluble activity is stable to freezing and thawing, and to heating to 68 degrees C for 60 min. It is promptly destroyed upon boiling. IgE destruction was linear with time up to 20 min and a series of products, mol. wts 138,000, 92,500, 60,000 and 36,500, are formed during the reaction. No pH optimum for the reaction could be found because, as the pH was lowered below 4.0, the spontaneous destruction of IgE became too great. At pH 4.75 the apparent Km for the reaction was 0.55 microM and Vmax was 0.4 nmoles IgE/10(4) mast cell equivalents/min. IgE-destroying activity could be inhibited by heat-inactivated serum, and by relatively high concentrations of crude alpha 1-antitrypsin, aprotinin, lima bean and soybean trypsin inhibitors and by p-nitroguanidinobenzoate. A large number of other protease inhibitors were inactive.

Muscle proteolytic enzyme activities in diabetic rats

Proteolytic enzyme activities were measured in skeletal muscle of Sprague-Dawley rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes [tail vein injection of streptozotocin (100 mg/kg), under ether anesthesia]. Assay of rat muscle homogenates from diabetic rats revealed a significant increase in alkaline serine protease activity as compared to untreated control rats and diabetic rats given insulin. There were no significant changes in lysosomal cathepsin activities in diabetic muscle as compared to controls. Gel studies of myofibrils isolated from the three groups of rats, subjected to autolysis, revealed that the serine protease had copurified with the myofibrils. Treatment of rats with compound 48/80, which degranulates mast cells, abolished the alkaline protease activity. There was no serine protease activity associated with the myofibrils isolated from compound 48/80-treated rats. Results from this study indicate that serine proteases are not involved in muscle protein breakdown in diabetes and are of mast cell origin.

Dynamic aspects of structural proteins in vertebrate skeletal muscle

In this review, our current knowledge on the structural proteins of vertebrate skeletal muscle is briefly outlined. Structural proteins include the contractile proteins (actin and myosin), the major regulatory proteins (troponin and tropomyosin), the minor regulatory proteins (M-protein, C-protein, F-protein, I-protein, and actinins), and the scaffold proteins (connectin, desmin, and Z-protein). In addition, the relative turnover rates of the muscle proteins (M-protein greater than or equal to troponin greater than soluble protein as a whole greater than tropomyosin not equal to alpha-actinin greater than myosin greater than 10S-actinin greater than actin) are discussed. The changes in the turnover of muscle proteins are compared in denervated and dystrophic muscles. The properties of the various proteases in muscle, including alkaline protease, calcium-activated neutral protease (CANP), and acidic protease (cathepsins), and the structural alterations of myofibrils by these proteases are also described. Finally, the role of proteases and their inhibitors in diseased muscle is summarized, with focus on CANP and its inhibitors, leupeptin and E-64.

Degradation of proinsulin and isolated C-peptide by rat kidney neutral metallo-endopeptidase

Previous studies have shown that a neutral metallo-endopeptidase purified from rat kidney degrades the B chain of insulin, glucagon, ACTH and, at a markedly slower rate, the A chain of insulin. In contrast the enzyme does not attack native insulin, oxytocin, vasopressin, ribonuclease, albumin or denatured hemoglobin. The current studies demonstrate that the neutral peptidase also degrades the isolated C-peptide of proinsulin and cleaves certain peptide bonds in and near the C-peptide moiety of native proinsulin. Time courses of the formation of fluorescamine-reactive material during digestion of proinsulin and isolated C-peptide with the peptidase were identical. However, structural analysis of the peptidase-digested proinsulin showed that the enzyme does not convert proinsulin to insulin but that the peptidase cleaves one bond, Tyr26-Thr27, in the B chain moiety and five bonds in the C-peptide moiety, producing four split proinsulins. One of the split proinsulins is des-octacosa-peptide (27-54) porcine proinsulin or des-tetracosapeptide (27-50) bovine proinsulin. Each is a derivative of the insulin molecule having an extension of nine residues (ten residues in the case of the derivative from bovine proinsulin) at the N-terminus of A chain and lacking four residues at the C-terminus of B chain. This two chain derivative retains full immunoreactivity with insulin antibodies and exhibits 2.4-times more biological activity (promotion of glycogenesis in primary cultured hepatocytes) than proinsulin and about two-thirds the activity of insulin.

Selective antigen-stimulated release of proteolytic activity from rat mast cells

Stimulation of rat mast cell suspension from actively sensitized rats with antigen in vitro produced a parallel release of histamine and enzyme, probably proteolytic activity, which releases p-nitrophenol from an L-tyrosine-p-nitrophenyl ester derivative (TPNE). The histamine and enzyme release correlated with respect to their dependence on antigen concentration, reaction time and inhibition by 2,4-DNP and papaverine. In contrast, more than 50% of total histamine but nearly no enzyme was released by the ionophore A 23.187 and C 48/80 (each less than or equal to 1 microgram/ml). The enzyme was apparently secreted predominantly in a particular form. It was approximately 50% inactivated by heating for 1 h at 56 degree C or by incubation for 3 h at 37 degrees C with the chymotrypsin inactivator tosyl-phenylalanine chloromethylketone (TPCK; 2.5 X 10-4 M) or for 5 min at 37 degrees C with benzyl sulphonyl fluoride (2.5 X10-4 M), which reacts with SH groups. Heating for 3 min at 100 degrees C destroyed it completely. On the basis of these properties we suggest that the antigen released enzyme is the known granulabound chymase from rat mast cells. TPNE was not only a cleavable substrate for the enzymatic activity in the 800 g cell supernatant following antigen stimulation, but also a strong inhibitor of the histamine release on administration before antigen (IC50 approximately 10-6 M). It appears that the same enzyme activity acts initially intracellularly as activator of the histamine secretion and then is subsequently released along with histamine as a further mediator. Extracellularly this enzyme may act as a modulator of inflammatory reactions in type I allergy both locally and systemically.

Isolation and characterisation of peptide hydrolases from the maize root

The maize root has two main proteinase and carboxypeptidase components. Proteinase I and carboxypeptidase I, which predominate in older plants, appear to have a serine group at their active sites and have been estimated to have molecular weights of approximately 54000 and 77000 respectively. Proteinase I, which has been purified up to 500-fold, degrades haemoglobin and azocasein with maximum activity at pH 4 and 9--10 respectively, while on maize root protein it gives most hydrolysis in the neutral pH range. The main portion of the nitrate-reductase-inactivating activity in the maize root extract is due to proteinase I. Carboxypeptidase I, like several other plant carboxypeptidases such as carboxypeptidase C which have now (IUB Recommendations 1978) been classified as serine carboxypeptidases (EC 3.4.16.1), has maximum activity around pH 5 and has esterase activity. A second group of proteases, proteinase II and carboxypeptidase II, separated from the above on carboxymethyl-cellulose, were shown to have different molecular weight properties and be equally sensitive to serine and thiol group inhibitors. Proteinase II degrades haemoglobin, but not azocasein and does not mediate nitrate reductase inactivation. Associated with this second group of proteases was a macromolecular component which inactivated nitrate reductase but, unlike the action of proteinase I, was not inhibited by phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride or casein. It was inhibited by metal chelating agents which were without effect on nitrate reductase inactivation due to proteinase I.

Purification and partial characterization of an alpha-chymotrypsin-like protease of rat peritoneal mast cells

An alpha-chymotrypsin-like enzyme was isolated from mast cells of the rat peritoneal cavity by extraction with 0.8 M potassium phosphate, 2 per cent protamine sulfate followed by affinity chromatography on hen ovoinhibitor-agarose and adsorption on barium sulfate. This procedure yielded over 9 mg of protease from the peritoneal lavage fluid of 100 rats, equivalent to 44 per cent of the initial activity. The purified protein was homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, analytical isoelectric focusing, and amino-terminal sequence analysis. The protease contains no covalently bound carbohydrate and has a molecular weight of approximately 26,000. The enzyme molecule is a single polypeptide chain with an amino-terminal sequence homologous to that of the B chain of bovine alpha-chymotrypsin. The kinetic parameters, Km and kcat, for the hydrolysis of N-benzoyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester were determined at pH 8.0 and 25 degrees C as 1.1 X 10(-3) M and 84 sec-1, respectively. The value of the second-order rate constant for inactivation of mast cell protease by diisopropylphosphofluoridate was 300 times lower than for bovine alpha-chymotrypsin.

Purification, characterization and localization of serine protease of Morris hepatoma 8999

1. A serine protease of hepatoma 8999, isolated in the mitochondrial fraction, was purified and crystallized. The purified enzyme was apparently homogeneous on ultracentrifugal analysis and polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis. The ratio of absorbance at 280 nm and 260 nm, A280/A260, was 1.90 and its absorption coefficient, A280 1% was 10.5 cm-1 estimated from dry weight measurements. Its S20, w value was 2.23 S and its molecular weight was estimated to be 24000 +/- 1000. The enzyme contained twice as much lysine, arginine and histidine as chymotrypsinogen did, but had a very similar amino acid composition to serine protease from skeletal muscle. Its isoelectric point was pH 10.6. 2. The substrate specificity of the enzyme was the same as that of chymotrypsin A. Its Km and kcat values for N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, N-acetyl-L-phenylalanine ethyl ester and N-acetyl-L-tryptophan ethyl ester were 0.35 mM and 10.69 s-1, 0.38 mM and 10.7 s-1, and 0.11 mM and 11.8 s-1, respectively. Its activity was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and partially inhibited with tosylphenylalanine chloromethyl ketone. 3. The enzyme was shown to be located in different granules from the intracellular particules (light and heavy mitochondrial fraction) by sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and it was stained in mast cells of the hepatoma 8999 by the immunofluorescent technique. 4. Serine protease is present in different amounts in various organs of rat and the enzyme from hepatoma 8999 gave a single band that fused completely with those of the enzymes from skeletal muscle, heart, liver and kidney, respectively, on Ouchterlony double-diffusion analysis using antiserum to the crystalline enzyme of hepatoma 8999, but the enzyme from small intestine did not react with the antiserum.

Purification and characterization of a chymotrypsin-like enzyme (protease-S) in thermally injured rat skin

Protease-S was extracted from thermally injured rat skin, and partially purified by column chromatography using Sephadex G-50, CM-Sephadex (A-50), Sephadex G-75 gel filtration. The optimum pH of this enzyme was 8.6--8.8, and the molecular weight determined by Sephadex G-75 gel filtration was approximately 30 000. This enzyme is active on the N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester, N-succinyl-L-phenylalanine-p-nitroanilide (of chymotrypsin substrate) but not N-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester, N-benzoyl-L-arginine-p-nitroanilide. Also, protease-S was completely inhibited by diisopropylfluorophosphate (1 mM) or phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (10 micrometer), and N-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethylketone (1 mM). These results are very similar to those obtained with bovine chymotrypsin. But the enzyme is not identical with the chymotrypsin-like proteases in mast cells and leukocyte granules. When proteases-S was measured during the inflammatory reaction in vivo, maximal activity was found after 8 h, at the end of inflammation.

The main neutral protease of rat skin is a mast cell enzyme. Immunohistochemical localization of the enzyme in rat skin with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) complex method

The highly sensitive PAP immunoperoxidase method was used to localize the main neutral protease of rat skin. The use of the neutral detergent, Triton X-100, in the reagent and washing solutions was observed to effectively decrease the nonspecific staining. The specific staining was localized to the mast cell granules.

Rat skin main neutral protease: immunohistochemical localization

Specific antiserum against the purified rat skin main neutral protease was used in double layer immunofluorescent method to localize the enzyme in normal rat skin. The specific immunofluorescence was seen in dermal cells that were identified as mast cells on basis of their metachromatic granules. Enzyme histochemical staining with naphthol AS-D chloroacetate localized to the same cells that exhibited specific immunofluorescence. The granules of isolated rat mast cells also gave a specific reaction with the immunohistochemical technique. The results provide further evidence for the suggestion that rat skin main neutral protease is identical with the rat mast cell "chymase."

Purification and characterization of a myosin-cleaving protease from rat heart myofibrils

A proteolytic enzyme, which causes the limited degradation of cardiac myosin, was purified from rat heart myofibrils. The purified enzyme (a myosin-cleaving protease) was apparently homogeneous by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence and absence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Autolysis of the purified enzyme was observed at neutral pH without high concentration of CaCl2. The molecular weight was estimated to be 26 000-27 000. The enzyme was active against casein, N-acetyl-L-tyrosine ethyl ester and N-glutaryl-L-phenylalanine-4-nitroanilide (Glu-Phe-NAn), but less active with N-benzoyl-DL-arginine-4-nitroanilide. Optimum pH values for the enzyme were 9.0 for casein and 8.4 for Glu-Phe-NAn. Caseinolytic activity of the enzyme was completely inhibited with phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and diisopropylphosphofluoride and partially inhibited with L-1-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone (Tos-PheCH2Cl) and soybean trypsin inhibitor. Tos-LysCH2Cl had no effect. Sulfhydryl reagents, metal-chelating agents and metal ions except for Zn2+ had little or no effect on the activity. Degradation of cardiac myosin with the enzyme produced two fragments having molecular weights of 130 000 and 94 000, accompanied by the disappearance of myosin heavy chain and light chain 2. Myosin degradation with the enzyme was more restrictive than with chymotrypsin.

Evidence for increased protease activity secreted from cultured fibroblasts from patients with pseudoxanthoma elasticum

Abnormal polyanion metabolism in cultured fibroblasts from patients with pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) was studied by incubating normal and PXE fibroblasts in culture medium containing 35SO4 for 96 hr and measuring differences in secreted 35SO4-labelled proteoglycans (35S-PG). PXE medium contained less high molecular weight (MW) 35S-PG and more low MW 35S-labelled molecules than normal medium. Addition of diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP), a serine protease inhibitor, to the media after the 96 hr incubation resulted in no change in the MW distribution of 35SO4-labelled molecules in normal media. However, DFP treated PXE medium contained significantly more high MW 35S-PG than either untreated PXE medium or DFP treated normal medium. High MW 35S-PG was isolated from PXE fibroblast culture medium and incubated with serum free medium from either normal or PXE fibroblast cultures. There was significantly more degradation of this 35S-PG to low MW 35S-labelled molecules by PXE medium than by normal medium. 32P-DFP, which binds to the active site of serine proteases, was added to serum free medium from normal and PXE cultures. The specific radioactivity of PXE medium was 4 times greater than that of normal medium. These lines of evidence are consistent with the hypothesis that a biochemical defect in cultured PXE fibroblasts is the increased secretion of a serine protease that can degrade sulfated proteoglycans.

Activation of fibroblast procollagenase by mast cell proteases

Proteases capable of activating procollagenase from gingiva and from fibroblast and macrophage monolayer cultures were harvested from homogenates of canine tumor mast cells. The mast cell proteases lysed casein and Azocoll but not native collagen. In low salt concentrations the enzymes existed at high molecular weight complexes, which were dissociated by increasing the salt concentration above 1.0 M (NaCl, KCl). Gel filtration in 1.4 M KCl separated the protease activity into three peaks, all of which activated procollagenase. Two of the enzymes showed substrate specificities (hydrolysis of p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester and benzoyl-tyrosine ethyl ester) and reactive center reactivities similar to pancreatic trypsin and chymotrypsin. Based on gel filtration, apparent molecular weights of 160 000 (p-tosyl-L-arginine methyl ester esterase), 90 000 (main procollagenase activator) and 36 000 benzoyl-tyrosine ethyl ester esterase) were determined. Activation of procollagenase resulted in a 18-20 000 decrease of the molecular weight. The activation was directly related to the amount of activator added within certain limits. Further addition of activator resulted in proteolytic inactivation of collagenase.

A rat skin acid esteroprotease hydrolyzing benzoylarginine ethylester: purification and properties

A benzoylarginine ethylester hydrolyzing enzyme from rat skin has been purified 54-fold by chromatography on arginine methylester-CH-Sepharose and Sephadex G-200 prior to isoelectrofocusing. The molecular weight of the enzyme is approximately 125,000. The enzyme hydrolyzes bensoylarginine ethylester, acetyltyrosine ethylester, benzoylarginine methylester, benzoyllysine methylester, and benzoylalanine methylester. Casein is slightly hydrolyzed at an optimum pH of 6.5. The enzyme is inhibited by diisopropylfluorophosphate, and p-chloromercuribenzoic acid. KC1 enhances the extraction of the enzyme, increased its activity, and is essential for its stability.