title: Inefficient processing of human protein C in the mouse mammary gland.
abstract: Vitamin K-dependent plasma protein, human Protein C (HPC) has been expressed in transgenic mice, using a 4.2 kb mouse whey acidic protein (WAP) promoter, 9.0 kb HPC gene and 0.4 kb 3' flanking sequences. Expression was mammary gland-specific and the recombinant human Protein C (rHPC) was detected in milk at concentrations of 0.1 to 0.7 mg ml-1. SDS-PAGE revealed that the single, heavy and light chains of rHPC migrated with increased electrophoretic mobility, as compared to HPC. Enzymatic deglycosylation showed that these molecular weight disparities are in part due to differential glycosylation. The substantial increase observed in the amount of single chain protein, as well as the presence of the propeptide attached to 20-30% of rHPC, suggest that mouse mammary epithelial cells are not capable of efficient proteolytic processing of rHPC. The Km of purified rHPC for the S-2366 synthetic substrate was similar to that of plasma-derived HPC, while the specific activity was about 42-77%. Amino acid sequence analyses and low anticoagulant activity of purified rHPC suggest that gamma-carboxylation of rHPC is insufficient. These results show that proteolytic processing and gamma-carboxylation can be limiting events in the overexpression of fully biologically active rHPC in the mouse mammary gland.
authors.affiliation: Holland Laboratory, American Red Cross, Rockville, MD 20855.
authors.forename: W N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Drohan
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Paleyanda
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wroble
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Velander
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lubon
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011486:Protein C / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017421:Sequence Analysis
chemical_list: D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D008894:Milk Proteins; D011486:Protein C; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C024471:whey acidic proteins