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Streptokinase (SK) is a plasminogen activator which converts inactive plasminogen (Pg) to active plasmin (Pm), which cleaves fibrin clots. SK secreted by groups A, C, and G Streptococcus (SKA/SKC/SKG) is composed of three domains: SKα, SKβ and SKγ. Previous domain-swapping studies between SK1/SK2b-cluster variants revealed that SKβ plays a major role in the activation of human Pg. Here, we carried out domain-swapping between skcg-SK/SK2-cluster variants to determine the involvement of SKβ in several SK functionalities, including specific/proteolytic activity kinetics, fibrinogen-bound Pg activation and α 2 -antiplasmin resistance. Our results indicate that SKβ has a minor to determining role in these diverse functionalities for skcg-SK and SK2b variants, which might potentially be accompanied by few critical residues acting as hot spots. Our findings enhance our understanding of the roles of SKβ and hot spots in different functional characteristics of SK clusters and may aid in the engineering of fibrin-specific variants of SK for breaking down blood clots with potentially higher efficacy and safety., (© 2019 The Authors. Published by FEBS Press and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Irreversible MMP-9 inhibition is considered a significant therapeutic goal in inflammatory, vascular and tumour pathology. We report that divalent cation chelators Alendronate and EDTA not only directly inhibited MMP-9 but also promoted irreversible plasmin-mediated MMP-9 inactivation by exposing cryptic plasmin-degradation sites within the MMP-9 catalytic-domain and producing an inhibitory hemopexin-domain fragment. This effect was also observed using MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, which activated exogenous plasminogen to degrade endogenous proMMP-9 in the presence of Alendronate or EDTA. Degradation-mediated inactivation of proMMP-9 occurred in the absence of transient activation, attesting to the incapacity of plasmin to directly activate proMMP-9 and direct MMP-9 inhibition by Alendronate and EDTA. Our study provides a novel rational for therapeutic Alendronate use in MMP-9-dependent pathology characterised by plasminogen activation., (Copyright © 2012 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Presence of isolated beta or betagamma domains of streptokinase (SK) increased the catalytic activity of staphylokinase (SAK)-plasmin (Pm) complex up to 60%. In contrast, fusion of SK beta or betagamma domains with the C-terminal end of SAK drastically reduced the catalytic activity of the activator complex. The enhancement effect mediated by beta or betagamma domain on Pg activator activity of SAK-Pm complex was reduced greatly (45%) in the presence of isolated kringles of Pg, whereas, kringles did not change cofactor activity of SAK fusion proteins (carrying beta or betagamma domains) significantly. When catalytic activity of SAK-microPm (catalytic domain of Pm lacking kringle domains) complex was examined in the presence of isolated beta and betagamma domains, no enhancement effect on Pg activation was observed, whereas, enzyme complex formed between microplasmin and SAK fusion proteins (SAKbeta and SAKbetagamma) displayed 50-70% reduction in their catalytic activity. The present study, thus, suggests that the exogenously present beta and betagamma interact with Pg/Pm via kringle domains and elevate catalytic activity of SAK-Pm activator complex resulting in enhanced substrate Pg activation. Fusion of beta or betagamma domains with SAK might alter these intermolecular interactions resulting in attenuated functional activity of SAK.

Staphylokinase (SAK) forms an inactive 1:1 complex with plasminogen (PG), which requires both the conversion of PG to plasmin (Pm) to expose an active site in PG-SAK activator complex and the amino-terminal processing of SAK to expose the positively charged (Lys-11) amino-terminus after removal of the 10 N-terminal amino acid residues from the full length protein. The mechanism by which the N-terminal segment of SAK affects its PG activation capability was investigated by generating SAK mutants, blocked in the native amino-terminal processing site of SAK, and carrying an alteration in the placement of the positively charged amino acid residue, Lys-11, and further studying their interaction with PG, Pm, miniplasmin and kringle structures. A ternary complex formation between PG-SAK PG was observed when an immobilized PG-SAK binary complex interacted with free radiolabelled PG in a sandwich binding experiment. Formation of this ternary complex was inhibited by a lysine analog, 6-aminocaproic acid (EACA), in a concentration dependent manner, suggesting the involvement of lysine binding site(s) in this process. In contrast, EACA did not significantly affect the formation of binary complex formed by native SAK or its mutant derivatives. Furthermore, the binary (activator) complex formed between PG and SAK mutant, PRM3, lacking the N-terminal lysine 11, exhibited 3-4-fold reduced binding with PG, Pm or miniplasmin substrate during ternary complex formation as compared to native SAK. Additionally, activator complex formed with PRM3 failed to activate miniplasminogen and exhibited highly diminished activation of substrate PG. Protein binding studies indicated that it has 3-5-fold reduction in ternary complex formation with miniplasmin but not with the kringle structure. In aggregate, these observations provide experimental evidence for the participation of the N-terminal region of SAK in accession and processing of substrate by the SAK-Pm activator complex to potentiate the PG activation by enhancing and/or stabilizing the interaction of free PG.

Based on homology search and structure prediction methods we show that (1) the N-terminal N domains of members of the plasminogen/hepatocyte growth factor family, (2) the apple domains of the plasma prekallikrein/coagulation factor XI family, and (3) domains of various nematode proteins belong to the same module superfamily, hereafter referred to as the PAN module. The patterns of conserved residues correspond to secondary structural elements of the known three-dimensional structure of hepatocyte growth factor N domain, therefore we predict a similar fold for all members of this superfamily. Based on available functional informations on apple domains and N domains, it is clear that PAN modules have significant functional versatility, they fulfill diverse biological functions by mediating protein-protein or protein-carbohydrate interactions.

Staplabin (0.3-0.6 mM), a fungal triprenyl phenol, enhanced 3-fold the plasminogen activator-catalyzed activation of Glu-plasminogen and Lys-plasminogen as well as their binding to fibrin. Staplabin was not stimulatory to the amidolytic activity of plasmin and plasminogen activators. Even in the presence of epsilon-aminocaproic acid (EACA) and fibrinogen fragments, allosteric effectors for Glu-plasminogen, staplabin increased the activation of both forms of plasminogen. In size-exclusion chromatography of Glu-plasminogen and Lys-plasminogen, the molecular elution time, which varies as the conformation of a protein changes, was shortened by staplabin. These results suggest that staplabin causes plasminogens to be more susceptible to activation and fibrin binding by inducing a conformational change that is, at least in part, different from that induced by EACA and fibrinogen fragments.

Glu-plasminogen exists in two major glycoforms (I and II). Glycoform I contains carbohydrate chains linked to Asn-289 and Thr-346, whereas glycoform II is glycosylated only at Thr-346. Disparities in carbohydrate content lead to differences in the important functional properties of the zymogen, e.g. the kinetics of activation. The kinetics of the large ligand-induced conformational changes of each of the Glu-plasminogen glycoforms have been studied using stopped-flow fluorescence. The results are in accordance with a conformational change governed by positive co-operative binding at two weak lysine-binding sites. Additional glycosylation at Asn-289 in Glu-plasminogen I results in a two-fold increase in the overall dissociation constant of a ligand, trans-4-aminomethyl-cyclohexane carboxylic acid. This effect stems directly from the reaction step during which the conformational changes occur. This implies a higher population of Glu-plasminogen I in the open conformation even in the absence of ligands, and thus accounts for a higher rate of activation of Glu-plasminogen I, in comparison with Glu-plasminogen II.

We examined the promoter activity of two homologous plasminogen-related genes (PRGA and PRGB) employing HepG2 cells. The 5'-flanking regions of these genes were sequenced first, then inserted into the upstream region of the CAT gene in an expression vector. CAT assays revealed that the promoter activity of PRGA was 3-fold that of plasminogen, while the activity of PRGB was 5-fold. Deletion analysis of these genes demonstrated that a region between -283 and +153 bp relative to the transcription initiation site was essential for their expression, and that there were regions with either negative or positive effects on expression farther upstream.

Human apolipoprotein(a) has a great size heterogeneity and consists of 38 kringle domains in the amino terminal and a serine protease domain in the carboxyl terminal. All but one kringle of apolipoprotein(a) are homologous to the fourth kringle of plasminogen. However, the 38th kringle resembles the fifth kringle of plasminogen and its seems to have been deleted in simian species. The phylogenetic trees suggest that an ancestral apolipoprotein(a) may have started with a duplicate of a plasminogen type protein. It also implies that deletion of the three kringles in the amino terminus followed, and that one of the remaining two kringles was duplicated in both human and simian species and the other was processed by a deletion in simian species after species separation. Thus, the number of kringles in other mammals not yet studied may vary considerably from species to species.

The NMR spectrum of miniplasminogen (V443-plasminogen) under conditions of acidic pH reveals a subset of particularly well-resolved resonances whose chemical shift values are closely similar to those of isolated kringle 5. The temperature dependence of the spectrum indicates that this set of resonances disappears in a single cooperative unfolding transition appropriate for kringle 5, whilst other broader resonances from the protease domain persist to higher temperature. These results provide evidence for significant structural and motional independence of the kringle and protease domains in spite of the short linker between these domains. The NMR spectrum of Glu1-plasminogen is closely similar to that of miniplasminogen under the same conditions. This suggests that the domain independence observed in miniplasminogen is maintained in the intact molecule.