title: Sequences within domain II of the urokinase receptor critical for differential ligand recognition.
abstract: The receptor for urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPAR) plays important roles in a number of physiological and pathological processes by virtue of its interactions with urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), vitronectin (Vn), and several other proteins. The uPA binding site spans all three domains (D1 to D3) of uPAR. However, the nature of the Vn binding site within uPAR is still not clear. In this study, we conducted homolog-scanning mutagenesis on uPAR by switching 14 individual segments of 4-8 residues to their counterpart sequences of a uPAR homolog CD59. All 14 mutants were well expressed, reacted with a panel of monoclonal antibodies, and exhibited correct molecular weights. Of these 14 mutants, six mutants were defective in both uPA and Vn binding. Most importantly, we found two unique mutants uPAR(Asn172-Lys175) and uPAR(Glu183-Asn186) within the D2 domain, which displayed differential ligand binding activity: both had high affinity uPA binding, but completely lost Vn binding, indicating that these two sequences constitute a novel Vn binding site. Indeed, two peptides, P1 (153CPGSNGFHNNDTFHFLKC) and P2 (171CNTTKCNEGPILELENLPQ), derived from the sequences of the identified uPA and Vn binding pockets within D2, respectively, behaved like bona fide ligand binding sites: peptide P1 bound uPA but not Vn, whereas peptide P2 bound Vn and inhibited uPAR-mediated cell adhesion, but did not interact with uPA. Altogether, our data demonstrated that uPAR D2 contains two distinct ligand binding sites for uPA and Vn. Such information will help us better understand the complex roles of uPAR in cell adhesion, migration, and tumor metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vascular Biology, Jerome H. Holland Laboratory for the Biomedical Sciences, American Red Cross, Rockville, Maryland 20855, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D019921:Biotinylation; D018957:CD59 Antigens / Q000737:chemistry; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002460:Cell Line; D002469:Cell Separation; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry*; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000737:chemistry; D019096:Vitronectin / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D018957:CD59 Antigens; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008024:Ligands; C524898:PLAUR protein, human; D010455:Peptides; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator; D019096:Vitronectin; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator