title: Heparin promotes proteolytic inactivation by thrombin of a reactive site mutant (L444R) of recombinant heparin cofactor II.
abstract: A heparin cofactor II (HCII) mutant with an Arg substituted for Leu444 at the P1 position (L444R-rHCII) was previously found to have altered proteinase specificity (Derechin, V. M., Blinder, M. A., and Tollefsen, D. M. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 5623-5628). The present study characterizes the effect of glycosaminoglycans on the substrate versus inhibitor activity of L444R-rHCII. Heparin increased the stoichiometry of inhibition of L444R-rHCII with alpha-thrombin (compared with minus glycosaminoglycan) but decreased it with R93A,R97A,R101A-thrombin, a mutant thrombin that does not bind glycosaminoglycans. Dermatan sulfate decreased the stoichiometry of inhibition of L444R-rHCII with both proteinases. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed no proteolysis of L444R-rHCII when incubated with R93A,R97A,R101A-thrombin in the absence or the presence of glycosaminoglycan or with alpha-thrombin and dermatan sulfate. In contrast, greater than 75% of the L444R-rHCII was converted to a lower molecular weight form when incubated with alpha-thrombin/heparin. A time course of alpha-thrombin inhibition by L444R-rHCII/heparin showed a rapid but transient inhibition with approximately 80% of the alpha-thrombin activity being regained after 6 h of incubation. In contrast, all other combinations of inhibitor, proteinase, and glycosaminoglycan resulted in complete and sustained inhibition of the proteinase. Heparin fragments of 8-20 polysaccharides in length rapidly accelerated L444R-rHCII inhibition of both alpha-thrombin and R93A,R97A,R101A-thrombin. After extended incubations, R93A,R97A,R101A-thrombin was completely inhibited by L444R-rHCII with all the heparin fragments, but approximately 30-50% of alpha-thrombin activity remained with fragments long enough to bridge HCII-thrombin. These results collectively indicate that ternary complex formation, mediated by heparin, increases L444R-rHCII inactivation by alpha-thrombin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill 27599, USA.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ciaccia
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Willemze
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D006493:Heparin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015844:Heparin Cofactor II / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D013917:Thrombin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015844:Heparin Cofactor II; D006493:Heparin; D013917:Thrombin