title: Assembly of urokinase receptor-mediated plasminogen activation complexes involves direct, non-active-site interactions between urokinase and plasminogen.
abstract: The binding of the zymogenic form of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (pro-uPA) to its specific cellular receptor, uPAR, leads to a large potentiation of plasmin generation. This is dependent on the concurrent cellular binding of plasminogen, and is completely abrogated by the plasminogen lysine-binding site ligand, 6-aminohexanoic acid. Previous data have provided circumstantial evidence for the formation of specific complexes to mediate the kinetically favorable reciprocal interactions between the protease and zymogen components [Ellis, V., and Dano, K. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 4806-4813]. To further investigate the formation of these putative complexes, we have studied the effect of various lysine-binding site ligands on the binding and activation of plasminogen on U937 cells. Lysine-binding site ligands resembling internal lysine residues, such as Nalpha-acetyl-L-lysine methyl ester, were found to specifically inhibit uPAR-mediated cell-surface plasminogen activation at concentrations up to 40-fold lower than those inhibiting the cellular binding of 125I-labeled plasminogen (IC50s 300 microM vs 8.5 mM). By contrast, 6-aminohexanoic acid, resembling a C-terminal lysine residue, did not display this disparity (IC50s 25 vs 30 microM). These lysine analogues were also found to compete a non-active-site interaction between uPA and plasminogen, detected by surface plasmon resonance (Kd 50 nM), at concentrations correlating with their effect on cell-surface plasminogen activation, suggesting that this interaction is part of the kinetic mechanism. Consistent with this, synthetic peptides corresponding to the sequence uPA149-158 (GQKTLRPRFK) and uPA149-157 (GQKTLRPRF) specifically abolished the amplification of cell-surface plasminogen activation. These data demonstrate that a novel non-active-site interaction between uPA and plasminogen is necessary for the assembly and efficiency of cell-surface plasminogen activation complexes.
authors.affiliation: Thrombosis Research Institute, London, United Kingdom. vellis@tri-london.ac.uk
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Whawell
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Deadman
mesh_terms: D015119:Aminocaproic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D001665:Binding Sites; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000201:enzymology; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008239:Lysine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000494:pharmacology; D010958:Plasminogen / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D010960:Plasminogen Activators / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator; D020298:U937 Cells; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009842:Oligopeptides; C524898:PLAUR protein, human; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator; D010958:Plasminogen; D010960:Plasminogen Activators; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator; D008239:Lysine; D015119:Aminocaproic Acid