Angiotensin II-forming heart chymase is a mast-cell-specific enzyme.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D E Jenne.
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Granzymes are serine proteases present in secretory granules of cytolytic T lymphocyte lines. We have studied the expression of the granzyme family (granzyme A, B, C, D, E, F, and G) in different lymphoid cell populations and cell lines as well as in nonlymphoid cells and tissues. Our data show that with few exceptions expression of granzyme genes is restricted to T cells and their thymic precursors. In mature T cells granzymes are expressed only upon activation. The same is true for thymocytes, with the exception of grazyme A that is expressed also in non-stimulated cells. In T cells and thymocytes the distribution of mRNAs coding for different granzymes depends on the subpopulation tested and the activation protocol. Highly cytolytic PEL express granzymes A and B but none of the other granzymes.
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Complement C6 is one of five plasma proteins that are incorporated into the lytic terminal complement complex on lipid membranes (C5b-9m) upon activation of the complement cascade. Oligonucleotide probes derived from partial amino acid sequences of purified C6 were used to isolate cDNA clones from a human liver cDNA library. The complete polypeptide structure of mature C6 deduced from the cDNA sequence consists of 913 amino acid residues preceded by a typical 21-residue signal peptide. C6 is most similar in structure to complement C7, sharing 33.5% identical residues with C7 including all 56 cysteine residues. The low density lipoprotein receptor class A and B modules, the thrombospondin type I module at the carboxyl terminus, and the two short consensus repeat modules are arranged in the same way as in C7. In contrast to C7 and other terminal complement proteins, the thrombospondin type I module at the amino terminus occurs as a tandem repeat in C6. The last tandem repeat at the carboxyl terminus of C6 and C7 has been identified as a new distinct module (factor I module), which is closely related to a segment in the heavy chain of complement control factor I. Binding studies with filter-bound C6 fragments generated by proteolysis showed that the C5b-binding domain of C6 was located in the 34-kDa carboxyl terminal fragment consisting of two short consensus repeats and two factor I modules.
A cDNA clone that is closely related to the granule-associated serine proteases of cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL), called granzymes A-F, was isolated from a CTL expression library. The encoded serine protease, granzyme G, shows 70%-89% nucleotide identities to the granzymes C-F and, like those, consists of 228 amino acids preceded by the short propeptide Glu-Glu and a 18 residue long signal peptide. Granzyme G was identified by amino-terminal sequence analysis as a correctly processed and sorted protein stored in lysosome-like granules. The phylogenetic history of the granzyme multigene family was reconstructed by two tree-making methods and by Southern blot analyses of human, rat, and mouse DNA. Our results indicate differences in the evolutionary pathway between these species. The murine granzymes C-G descended from a progenitor present at the time of mammalian radiation. Granzyme C branched off first after the primate-rodent split and was involved in a recombination event with granzyme B before the rat-mouse divergence. Granzymes D and E have diverged after the mouse-rat speciation. However, no experimental evidence for the existence of a granzyme C-D-E-F-G equivalent was found in humans, and loss of the ancestral gene in the primate lineage is discussed. In view of the species differences in the number of granzyme gene copies during recent evolution, we propose that the murine granzymes B-G play several distinct roles in CTL-mediated effector functions as a response to quite recent changes of the biochemical environment.
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A component of soluble terminal complement complexes was identified and affinity-purified to homogeneity by using a monoclonal antibody previously developed against the soluble C5b-9 complex. The protein, which we have designated complement cytolysis inhibitor (CLI), has a molecular mass of 70 kDa and consists of two nonidentical, disulfide-linked subunits of 35 kDa. Partial amino acid sequences determined for the amino-termini of the two subunits were identical with those of a recently characterized serum protein called SP-40,40. An almost full-length cDNA clone of 1651 base pairs was isolated from a human liver cDNA library by using long synthetic oligonucleotides as probes. The encoded amino acid sequence of CLI consists of 427 amino acid residues preceded by a 21-residue-long typical signal peptide and shows an overall 75.6% amino acid sequence homology to sulfated glycoprotein 2 (SGP-2), a major Sertoli cell-derived protein of rat testis fluid. As in SGP-2, proteolytic processing between residues 206 and 207 yields the two disulfide-linked subunits of plasma CLI. CLI and SGP-2 were shown to be orthologous single-copy genes in humans and rats by Southern blotting experiments. In addition, CLI was immunologically identified in human seminal plasma. Functional studies with purified terminal complement components showed that CLI suppresses the cytolytic potential of nascent C5b-7 complexes at physiological blood plasma concentrations (approximately 50 micrograms/ml). Its presence on the surface of mature sperm cells and its relative abundance in seminal plasma (approximately 250 micrograms/ml) suggest that CLI protects sperm cells and epithelial tissues against complement attack in the male reproductive tract.
The cytolytic potential of T effector cells appears to be intimately related to the presence of proteins stored in specialized cytoplasmic granules. A striking biological property of isolated granules is their lytic activity for a variety of target cells in a nonrestricted manner. Proteins contained within these granules of CTLs are specifically released upon target cell recognition. We have isolated and characterized six granule-associated proteins in two murine CTL lines in addition to the pore-forming and target membrane-disrupting perforin. Six full length cDNA clones have been identified in a CTL-specific cDNA expression library which code for the granule-associated serine esterases, designated as granzymes A to F. Granzymes A and B represent the genuine proteins encoded by the H factor/CTLA-3 cDNA and the CTLA-1/CCPI cDNA, respectively. The covalent amino acid structures of all six granzymes show the hallmarks for serine proteases and are highly related to that of rat mast cell protease I and II and cathepsin G, which have been found in granules of mast cells and neutrophilic granulocytes, respectively. The primary translation products are processed by removal of a hydrophobic signal peptide and a two residue-long propeptide at the amino-terminus. Immuno-electron microscopy shows that granzymes and perforin are stored together within secretory granules of CTLs. Simultaneous release of at least two of these granzymes has been observed during degranulation of a murine CTL line by anti-T3 antibodies. The biological role, particularly the proteolytic events elicited by granzyme A and other granzymes in the context of target cell recognition, are not known at present. It is unlikely that they form a proteolytic activation cascade together with pore-forming proteins analogous to the complement system. The strictly regulated secretion of granzymes and the lack of measurable enzymatic activity in the case of granzymes B, C, E and F towards a variety of synthetic substrates suggest a highly specific function for each of them.
Human complement component C8 exhibits an unusual structure in that it contains three chains, two of which, alpha and beta, display high sequence homology to other complement and CTL pore-forming proteins. The third chain, C8 gamma, is covalently linked to C8 alpha by a disulfide linkage; it is demonstrated that Cys40 of C8 gamma is linked to Cys164 of C8 alpha, a unique cysteine located in a loop located between the cysteine-rich LDL-receptor class A module and the membrane-inserting region of C8 alpha. C8 gamma was recently identified as a member of the lipocalin protein family, in which all proteins were either shown to, or are believed to bind small hydrophobic ligands. The present results now demonstrate that C8 gamma incorporates retinol and retinoic acid in the presence of 2 M NaCl. Molecular modeling of C8 gamma, based on the crystal structure of the homologous beta-lactoglobulin, reveals a structure of eight antiparallel beta-strands, bearing a highly hydrophobic binding pocket. The residues participating in the pocket formation are highly conserved when compared with the structures of beta-lactoglobulin and retinol-binding protein, both of which are known to interact with retinol. It is therefore proposed that C8 gamma may act as a retinol transporting protein in plasma.