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Biomedical subjects

M J Heeb

Publications and source records attributed to M J Heeb.

49 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Competition of activated protein C and urokinase for a heparin-dependent inhibitor.

Human urine contains a hitherto unrecognized heparin-dependent inhibitor of activated protein C (APC) (Mr approximately 50,000) that coelutes from heparin-Sepharose together with the only observed peak of urokinase inhibitory activity at a position (0.35 M NaCl) similar to that of plasma protein C (PC) inhibitor. Based on functional assays and immunoblot studies, urokinase and APC compete for this crude inhibitor in the absence or presence of heparin. These results suggest that the same heparin-dependent urinary inhibitor that is immunologically different from several known protease inhibitors is responsible for the observed inhibition of APC and urokinase. In the absence of heparin this inhibitor inhibits APC and urokinase with similar rates, and heparin enhances its inhibitory activity toward both enzymes with more pronounced stimulation of its PC inhibitory activity than its urokinase inhibitory activity. Half-maximal stimulation of inhibition of APC occurs at about 2 mU/ml and maximal stimulation (approximately 10-fold increase of the pseudo-first-order rate constant) at greater than or equal to 50 mU/ml of heparin. This is the first demonstration of competition between APC and urokinase for a heparin-dependent inhibitor. These results may therefore represent a new link between the two major antithrombotic pathways, the PC pathway and the fibrinolytic system.

Chromatography, Affinity↗

Immunological identity of heparin-dependent plasma and urinary protein C inhibitor and plasminogen activator inhibitor-3.

Purified plasma and urinary protein C inhibitors (PCI) formed heparin-dependent complexes with activated protein C (APC) which were detected by immunoblotting after nondenaturing gel electrophoresis. Bands representing APC.PCI complexes were also seen on immunoblots after incubation of plasma with APC and heparin. The same immunoblot pattern of complexes was detected by three different methods: method A, monoclonal antibody to plasminogen activator inhibitor-3 (PAI-3, urinary urokinase inhibitor) + 125I-labeled anti-mouse IgG; method B, polyclonal antibodies to PCI + 125I-labeled purified plasma PCI; and method C, monoclonal antibody to protein C + 125I-protein C. Plasma depleted of PAI-3 by immunoadsorption with insolubilized monoclonal antibody to PAI-3 showed no detectable antigen or complexes with APC as visualized by methods A or B. This PAI-3-depleted plasma had less than 10% of the heparin-dependent inhibitory activity of normal plasma toward APC. Purified plasma PCI was fully reactive in an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay for PAI-3, and plasma and urinary PCI inhibited urokinase activity in a heparin-dependent manner. These data indicate that heparin-dependent plasma and urinary PCI and PAI-3 are immunologically and functionally very similar if not identical. This observation identifies a new interrelation between the protein C anticoagulant and the fibrinolytic systems. In addition, plasma contains a heparin-independent inhibitor of APC which is not immunologically related to plasma PCI or to PAI-3.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Quantitative immunoblotting of plasma and platelet protein S.

Protein S, the activated protein C cofactor, was measured in plasma and in platelets by a quantitative immunoblotting assay using a double antibody technique. Either whole plasma or platelet lysates were electrophoresed on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes by electroblotting. Based on the demonstration of proportional transfer of protein S from the gel to the nitrocellulose membrane, a reproducible and sensitive quantitative assay for protein S antigen (approximately 70,000 MW) was developed that correlated well with the Laurell rocket assay for plasma protein S. Pooled normal plasma contains 22 micrograms/ml protein S. Total platelet protein S antigen at approximately 70,000 MW was determined in gel filtered platelets of ten healthy adults (mean, 163 ng per 10(8) platelets). In the supernatants of thrombin-stimulated platelets, 63% of the total platelet protein S antigen was measured. Thus, quantitative immunoblotting is a useful method to detect low levels of protein S in platelets or in plasma with the advantage of giving qualitative information, i.e. apparent MW, of protein S.

Adult↗

Binding of coagulation factor XI to washed human platelets.

The binding of human coagulation factor XI to washed human platelets was studied in the presence of zinc ions, calcium ions, and high molecular weight kininogen. Significant factor XI binding occurred at physiological levels of these metal ions when high molecular weight kininogen was present. Binding required platelet stimulation and was specific, reversible, and saturable. Scatchard analysis of the binding yielded approximately 1500 binding sites per platelet with an apparent dissociation constant of approximately 10 nM. Since the concentration of factor XI in plasma is about 25 nM, this suggests that in plasma factor XI binding sites on stimulated platelets might be saturated. Calcium ions and high molecular weight kininogen acted synergistically to enhance the ability of low concentrations of zinc ions to promote factor XI binding. The similarity between the concentrations of metal ions optimal for factor XI binding and those optimal for high molecular weight kininogen binding, as well as the ability of high molecular weight kininogen to modulate these metal ion effects, implies that factor XI and high molecular weight kininogen may form a complex on the platelet surface as they do in solution and on artificial negatively charged surfaces.

Binding, Competitive↗

Quantitative immunoblotting assay of blood coagulation factor XII.

The immunoblotting technique was applied to the study of Factor XII (F.XII) in plasma. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of whole plasma followed by electroblotting of the electropherograms to nitrocellulose (NC) membranes and immunologic detection by a double antibody technique was used. 125I-F.XII was transferred to the NC membrane in amounts proportional to the amount applied to the gel provided that a constant amount of carrier protein was present. Based on this, a quantitative assay was developed using either normal plasma or F.XII dilutions in F.XII-deficient plasma as standards. The measurement of F.XII antigen by immunoblotting was reproducible and gave values similar to those obtained by radial immunodiffusion. Two normal plasma pools contained 26 and 29 micrograms/ml of F.XII according to the immunoblotting assay. Compared to other immunoassays, immunoblotting has the advantage of directly estimating the apparent molecular weight (MW) of the protein of interest. Thus, we could confirm the normal apparent MW (80,000) of a F.XII-like molecule previously isolated from a cross reacting material (CRM)-positive F.XII-deficient plasma. None of eight CRM-negative F.XII-deficient plasmas showed an 80,000 MW immunoreactive molecule. However, five of these eight plasmas had a faint autoradiographic band at 115,000 MW that was similarly seen in only three out of 43 individual normal plasmas. The nature of this 115,000 MW band remains to be defined.

Autoradiography↗

Detection of in vitro and in vivo cleavage of high molecular weight kininogen in human plasma by immunoblotting with monoclonal antibodies.

Purified human high-mol-wt kininogen (HMWK), the cofactor of the contact phase of blood coagulation, migrated as a single band (approximately 110,000 mol wt) in a continuous buffer sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), but appeared as two separated bands (approximately 120,000 and 105,000 mol wt) when analyzed in a discontinuous buffer SDS-PAGE system. After elution from SDS polyacrylamide gels, each of the two bands showed coagulant activity. Six murine monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) against HMWK were produced and purified. In immunoblotting studies, three Mabs bound to the isolated alkylated heavy chain and one to the alkylated light chain of HMWK, whereas the remaining two bound only to the single-chain or unreduced two-chain molecule. None of the Mabs inhibited the clotting activity of HMWK or its binding to kaolin. Two of the Mabs, one directed against the light chain and one against the heavy chain, were used as specific probes to study HMWK in plasma samples using an immunoblotting technique. The anti-light chain Mab identified two distinct bands (approximately 120,000 and approximately 105,000 mol wt) in normal human plasma, but not in plasma from patients with hereditary HMWK deficiency. The anti-heavy chain Mab detected two additional bands (approximately 60,000 and approximately 54,000 mol wt) corresponding to low-mol-wt kininogen (LMWK) in normal plasma. A sensitive and specific quantitative immunoblotting assay of HMWK antigen in plasma was developed. Moreover, the immunoblotting technique with the anti-light chain Mab was used to detect the cleavage of HMWK in plasma samples after in vitro or in vivo activation of the contact system. The anti-light chain Mab demonstrated in vivo activation and cleavage of HMWK during an angioedema attack in a patient with hereditary angioedema and C1-inhibitor deficiency.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Factors affecting binding of galacto ligands to Actinomyces viscosus lectin.

The specificity requirements for the binding of Actinomyces viscosus T14V were examined by testing simple sugars, oligopeptides, and glycoproteins as inhibitors of the aggregation of glycoprotein-coated latex beads and washed A. viscosus cells. Lactose was the most inhibitory simple sugar; D-fucose and D-galactose were equally inhibitory, methyl-alpha-D-fucoside was slightly less inhibitory, and L-fucose and raffinose were not inhibitory. The concentration of galactose residues required for 50% inhibition of aggregation was 15 times higher in the form of lactose than in the form of asialoglycoprotein, suggesting an enhancement of lectin binding when galactose residues are clustered. However, when the inhibitory power of bi-, tri-, and tetraantennary asialooligopeptides of alpha 1-acid glycoprotein was compared with that of equivalent concentrations of galactose in the form of lactose, the biantennary form was slightly less effective than lactose, the triantennary form was approximately as effective as lactose, and the tetraantennary form was slightly more effective than lactose. Steric interference may prevent this type of clustering from enhancing lectin binding. The O-linked asialooligopeptides of asialofetuin were 10 times more inhibitory than an equivalent concentration of galactose in the form of N-linked asialooligopeptides. Thus, galactose beta-1----3 linked to N-acetylgalactosamine exhibits greater specificity for the A. viscosus lectin than does galactose beta-1----4 linked to N-acetylglucosamine. These results, taken together with previously reported data, are consistent with a lectin of low affinity, binding enhanced by multivalency, and specificity for beta-linked galactose.

Actinomyces↗

Identification and quantitation of protein S in human platelets.

Gel filtered human platelets contaminated with less than 0.02% of plasma protein S contained 490 ng of protein S antigen per 3 X 10(8) platelets, equivalent to 2.5% of protein S in whole blood. Three patients with heterozygous plasma protein S deficiency, a congenital disorder associated with venous thrombotic disease, had platelet protein S antigen levels that were 40% of the mean platelet level in ten normal volunteers. In immunoblotting analysis, platelet protein S was indistinguishable from plasma protein S. Thrombin stimulation of platelets caused release of 63% of total protein S antigen and this release was abolished when platelets were preincubated with metabolic inhibitors. Thrombin effected limited proteolysis of platelet protein S and this reaction was inhibited by calcium ions. Immunofluorescent staining of platelets using protein S antibodies demonstrated that protein S colocalized with fibrinogen, an established alpha-granule protein. Thus, human platelets contain protein S in alpha granules that can be released by thrombin stimulation. The released protein S may bind to stimulated platelets and thereby promote and localize the anticoagulant activity of activated protein C on the platelet surface.

Blood Platelets↗

Characterization of a galactose-specific lectin from Actinomyces viscosus by a model aggregation system.

A simple model system has been developed in which lectin-mediated aggregation of glycoprotein-coated beads can be monitored by following the decrease in light scattering at 650 nm. Aggregation has been characterized with the lectin of Actinomyces viscosus T14V. Its dependence on pH, temperature, and stirring rate was examined, and the number of bacterial cells in relation to the number of latex beads resulting in optimal aggregation was established. This system has the advantage of permitting the study of a single ligand of defined structure. The ligand density was determined with radiolabeled glycoproteins. Under the conditions of the assay, ligand leakage was less than 3%, and ligands were not displaced from the beads by various proteins, glycoproteins, or by other components present in the assay mixture. Latex beads coated with asialofetuin aggregate upon the addition of A. viscosus T14V cells. By contrast, when asialofetuin was first extensively treated with purified galactose oxidase, no aggregation occurred. Only after reduction with NaBH(4) was aggregation restored, demonstrating that galactose termini of asialofetuin are essential for the binding of A. viscosus lectin. An absolute requirement for calcium was also demonstrated. Various sugars inhibited aggregation in the following order, starting with the most effective: lactose, methyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, galactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, methyl-alpha-D-galactopyranoside. Beads coated with fimbriae from A. viscosus coaggregated with neuraminidase-treated human erythrocytes and with Streptococcus sanguis cells. In each instance the aggregation was inhibited by lactose, indicating that the A. viscosus lectin is located in the fimbriae. Cells grown under different conditions differed in their effectiveness in aggregating glycoprotein-coated beads, suggesting differences in lectin density or accessibility. Two different experimental designs were used to establish the minimum ligand density for aggregation to occur. In one type of experiment, a threshold concentration was found for asialo alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein, but not for asialofetuin. With an alternate approach in which a different population of galactose residues was exposed, a threshold phenomenon was also demonstrated for asialofetuin. The importance of structural ligand features in the aggregation assay is discussed in view of these findings.

Actinomyces↗