Chymostatin inhibits cellular aggregation of activated human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Anthralin, a non-phorbol tumor promoter, fails to inhibit metabolic cooperation in mutant human fibroblasts, but inhibits phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis in vitro

Two (among many) of the hypotheses put forward to explain mechanisms of action of tumor promoters are: (1) immunosuppression of the host; and (2) inhibition of intercellular junctional communication. Murine spleen cells were exposed for 30 min to various concentrations of anthralin (1,8-dihydroxy-9-anthrone), a polyphenolic non-phorbol promoter, and 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone (1,8-DHAQ), an inactive congener. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced T cell blastogenesis, an indicator of lymphocyte function, was then assessed in vitro. Exposure to anthralin resulted in a concentration-dependent suppression of lymphocyte proliferation with complete suppression occurring at 1 microM. The inactive congener, 1,8-DHAQ, failed to suppress lectin-induced blastogenesis at concentrations up to 10 microM. Dithiothreitol (DTT), a sulfhydryl (SH) compound, failed to protect against the suppression of lymphocyte function by anthralin. In addition, anthralin failed to inhibit in vitro microtubule assembly, a SH-dependent process, in a crude rat brain extract. Finally, unlike 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), the most potent skin tumor promoter known, anthralin failed to inhibit metabolic cooperation between mutant human fibroblasts as assayed by [14C]citrulline incorporation. In summary, the data suggest that anthralin may act as a tumor promoter by suppressing immune parameters, a property which is shared by the phorbol esters.

The 1.8 A structure of the complex between chymostatin and Streptomyces griseus protease A. A model for serine protease catalytic tetrahedral intermediates

The naturally occurring serine protease inhibitor, chymostatin, forms a hemiacetal adduct with the catalytic Ser195 residue of Streptomyces griseus protease A. Restrained parameter least-squares refinement of this complex to 1.8 A resolution has produced an R index of 0 X 123 for the 11,755 observed reflections. The refined distance of the carbonyl carbon atom of the aldehyde to O gamma of Ser195 is 1 X 62 A. Both the R and S configurations of the hemiacetal occur in equal populations, with the end result resembling the expected configuration for a covalent tetrahedral product intermediate of a true substrate. This study strengthens the concept that serine proteases stabilize a covalent, tetrahedrally co-ordinated species and elaborates those features of the enzyme responsible for this effect. We propose that a major driving force for the hydrolysis of peptide bonds by serine proteases is the non-planar distortion of the scissile bond by the enzyme, which thereby lowers the activation energy barrier to hydrolysis by eliminating the resonance stabilization energy of the peptide bond.

Lectins activate lymphocyte pyruvate dehydrogenase by a mechanism sensitive to protease inhibitors

The mitogenic lectins concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin were found to stimulate pyruvate oxidation in rat mesenteric lymphocytes. Marked cell agglutination accompanied this response. Wheat germ agglutinin, a nonmitogenic lectin, also aggregated lymphocytes but did not cause alteration of pyruvate oxidation. Cell lysates from lectin-treated cells retained their ability to oxidize pyruvate at an elevated rate, indicating that the observed stimulation of pyruvate oxidation was not due to increased transport of labeled pyruvate into the cells. Pyruvate oxidation activity in such lysates was readily sedimented in a mitochondria-enriched cellular fraction, indicating that it reflects mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase. Stimulation of this activity by lectins in intact lymphocytes was inhibited when the cells were incubated under conditions expected to inhibit trypsin-like proteases. Thus, esters of arginine, but not of alanine or tyrosine, blocked stimulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase by the lectins. The data indicate that pyruvate dehydrogenase is activated in lymphocytes treated with mitogenic lectins by a mechanism involving one or more proteolytic reactions. The similarity between the results presented here and those recently reported for insulin action on its target cells [Seals, J. R. & Czech, M. P. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 6529-6531] suggests that these systems may have similar modes of transmembrane signalling.