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The activated first component of human complement, C1-s, was shown to cleave type I and II collagen and gelatin. The proteolytic activity was heat labile and was inhibited by a monoclonal antibody (M241) which recognized light chain of active human C1-s or by a serine protease inhibitor, DFP, but not by a chelating agent.
Neutron scattering studies are reported on subcomponent C1q of component C1 of human complement, and on C1, the complex of C1q with subunit C1r2C1s2. For C1q, the molecular weight was determined as 460,000. The radius of gyration at infinite contrast RC is 12.8 nm. The RC values for the proteolytically cleaved forms of C1q, namely the heads and the stalks, are 1.5 to 2 nm and 11 nm, respectively, and thus the axis-to-arm angle of C1q is estimated at 45 degrees. Neutron data for subunit C1r2C1s2 are published elsewhere. The neutron data on C1 lead to an RC value of 12.6 nm for proenzymic C1 and a molecular weight of 820,000. The wide-angle scattering curve of C1q exhibits a minimum at Q = 0.28 nm-1 and a maximum at 0.39 nm-1; on the addition of C1r2C1s2, this minimum disappears. The neutron data on C1 indicate that C1q and C1r2C1s2 have complexed with a large conformational change in one or both parts. No conformational changes can be detected on the activation of C1 by this method.
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The proenzyme form of C1r was isolated by sequential chromatography from the euglobulin fraction of human serum on DEAE-Sepharose 6B-CL, CM-Sepharose 6B-CL and Sepharose S-300-CL. This C1r had the tendency to spontaneously activate within 60-90 min of incubation at 37 degrees C in presence of EDTA and more slowly in the presence of Ca2+. The spontaneous activation of C1r was found to be a bimolecular process and could be completely inhibited by DFP in the pH range 6-9 and in the presence of Ca2+ without affecting the hemolytic C1r activity. [14C]DFP bound to trace proteins in the 60-90 kD range, but not to C1r proenzyme. The spontaneous activation of C1r was diminished in the presence of EDTA by DFP, but could not be completely suppressed. EDTA acts by removing Ca2+ from C1r, thereby changing the conformation of the protein and causing an increased digestibility of the C1r H-chain. At temperatures above 0-4 degrees C this influence destroyed the ability of C1r proenzyme and enzyme to form macromolecular C1 and thereby abolished its hemolytic activity. We conclude from these results that the spontaneous C1r activation in the pH range 6-9 and in the presence of Ca2+ is due to contaminant proteases. C1r activated also spontaneously at higher pH values between pH 9 and 13.2, but the spontaneous activation ceased abruptly at pH 13.4. An intramolecular process of activation cannot be excluded at these high pH values. It is, however, not clear, whether this activation is a suitable model for the C1r activation in the C1 molecule, because the hemolytic activity of C1r was substantially diminished under the high pH conditions.
The value of the functional affinity constant between 125I-labelled Clq and the Clr-Cls tetramer (when free in solution) in the formation of Cl was found to be 3.6 X 10(7) M-1. When Clq was bound to activating immune complexes, the value of K was about 10-fold higher before initiation of activation and there was a further two to three-fold rise as activation proceeded. The addition of an excess of unlabelled Clq increased the rate of activation of 125I-labelled Cl, suggesting an interaction between Clr-Cls and two neighbouring Clq molecules. It is suggested that the tetramer Clr-Cls may bind bivalently to Clq when free in solution, but on binding to activating complexes, one of the Clr-Cls binding sites is detached from Clq and becomes bound to a site on the complex. The resultant spatial rearrangement of the Clr molecules within the tetramer may be optimal for autocatalytic activation of Clr.
The rate of activation of the first component of complement, Cl, by IgG oligomers was investigated. The kinetics of Clr activation exhibited a pronounced lag phase at low IgG concentration and were followed by a rapid conversion of the proenzyme Cls to Cls. Activation of Cl resulted in a conformational change of this complex. Bases on these results, a model of Cl activation by IgG oligomers is proposed: The efficiency of Cl activation by IgG oligomers is in parallel to their binding affinity to Clq. Clr undergoes a slow rearrangement to a conformation which is not stable and is autoactivated, then Clr rapidly converts Cls to Cls.
The association constants between C1q and C1r2C1s2 and between C1q and C1r2C1s2 were measured in solution using a new technique which employs sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation to estimate thermodynamic association constants. In this technique, zones of dilute, radioiodine-labeled C1q were sedimented through uniform concentrations of either C1r2C1s2 or C1r2C1s2. The zones remained intact, indicating that the dynamic equilibrium was rapid compared with the time of centrifugation. The observed increases in the sedimentation coefficients of the C1q zones were assumed to be directly proportional to the fraction of C1q bound in the dynamic equilibrium. Binding curves were constructed by performing the measurements at many C1r2C1s2 and C1r2C1s2 concentrations. The association constants were estimated from the midpoints of the binding curves and found to be 6.7 X 10(7)M-1 for C1r2C1s2 binding to 125I-C1q. After activation of the C1r2C1s2 the association constant decreased 10-fold to 7.1 X 10(6)M-1. These association constants refer to solvent conditions of pH 7.35, 1 mM Tris, 5 mM Ca2+ and 150 mM NaC1, pH 7.35. Similar measurements were performed with the collagenous peptic fragment of C1q and both 125I-C1r2C1s2 and 125I-C1r2C1s2. The association constants were independent of the state of activation and both found to be about 2 X 10(7) M-1, suggesting that most if not all of the interactions between C1q and C1r2C1s2 were confined to the collagenous portion of C1q.
By following dissociation kinetics of radiolabelled C1q from rabbit IgG antibody-sensitized sheep red blood cells (SRBC) before and after its incorporation in the C1 complex, it was demonstrated that the binding stability is markedly enhanced by the presence of the C1r2-C1s2 subunit of C1 which by itself exhibits no significant binding capacity to immune complexes. The dissociation of C1q was decreased by up to 95%, the extent of decrease being pronounced as the cell surface IgG antibody density increased. However, such a stabilizing effect of C1r2-C1s2 was largely abolished when SRBC sensitized with the dimeric fragment F(acb)2 lacking C gamma 3 was used as the C1 binder, whereas the dissociation rate of uncomplexed C1q from F(acb)2-sensitized cells was similar to that from whole IgG-sensitized cells. It was also shown that, although the C1r2-C1s2 subunit is dissociated selectively from C1 bound to either IgG- or F(acb)2-sensitized cells in the presence of EDTA, it is held on much longer by the former cells than the latter cells. These results were taken to indicate that, although the C1 fixation by immune complexes of IgG is undertaken primarily by the interaction between C1q and the C gamma 2 domain, it is also strengthened by the secondary interaction between the C1r2-C1s2 subunit of C1 and the C gamma 3 domain or a structure which is dependent on the pair of C gamma 3 domains.
The strength of interaction between the C1q and C1r2S2 subunits of C1 was studied as a function of temp. During centrifugation through sucrose density gradients at 4 degrees C, macromolecular C1 readily dissociated as it sedimented away from its free subunits. In contrast, at 20 degrees C, C1 remained associated as the 16S complex throughout centrifugation, thus indicating a stronger interaction between C1q and C1r2S2 at the higher temp. C1-inhibitor (C1-In) or nitrophenylguanidinobenzoate was present during centrifugation to prevent C1 activation. That native C1 was in fact the species being studied was confirmed by SDS-PAGE analysis. To investigate this temp dependence without using inhibitors, an alternative approach was used. Trace amounts of 125I-C1q were centrifuged through numerous sucrose density gradients, each of which contained a different concn of native C1r2S2 throughout the gradient. The s-rate of 125I-C1q increased with increasing C1r2S2 input. An association constant of 4.9 X 10(7) M-1 was calculated for this reversible interaction at 4 degrees C. However, at 20 degrees C, the data indicated a much higher affinity reaction since the addition of far less C1r2S2 was required for the s-rate of 125I-C1q to reach the 16S plateau. The presence of Cl-In did not affect these results. We have demonstrated that the association of C1q with C1r2S2 increases with increasing temp, a finding suggestive of a hydrophobic interaction. However, since we also show that C1 readily dissociates with increasing NaCl concn, the C1q-C1r2S2 interaction must, in fact, be ionic in nature. We therefore conclude that the temp dependence of the inter-subunit interaction is the result of a conformational change(s) within one of the subunits, and propose that this change may be similar to that occurring during Cl activation.
Biosynthetically labelled C1q secreted by guinea pig peritoneal macrophages was analysed by sedimentation through sucrose gradients followed by SDS-PAGE. In addition to the haemolytically active C1q of mol. wt 460,000 Da a low mol. wt (LMW) form of C1q was identified which had no detectable affinity for Fc of aggregated immunoglobulin, but which retained the ability to associate with the C1r2s2-complex. This LMW-C1q was covalently associated with two additional polypeptides of mol. wt 46 and 50 kDa.
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We have previously found low levels of C1 and C4 INH in the sera of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients. Hypocomplementaemia was supposed to be the consequence of a permanent activation of the classical pathway. We have compared the levels of C1 INH-C1rC1s and C1q-FN complexes in the sera of 95 CLL patients and 100 healthy controls, because these complexes are known to be formed in the early stage of classical pathway activation. A significant increase in the level of both types of complexes was found in sera of CLL patients as compared to the controls. These findings support the assumption that the classical complement pathway is activated in the patients with CLL.
Relative values of Vmax/Km for hydrolysis of 40 peptide p-nitroanilides catalyzed by human Cl-s and human acrosin are reported. For Cl-s, Ac-Lys(gamma Cbz)-Gly-Arg is the optimum sequence, but 25% of the substrates have (Vmax/Km)rel greater than 0.25 compared to this sequence. The best acrosin substrate tested has the sequence Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg, although (Vmax/Km)rel greater than 0.15 for more than half of the substrates. Proline at P2 is preferred by acrosin. Both enzymes prefer arginine at P1 greater than or equal to 3-fold over lysine and will not accept citrulline. In addition, occupancy of site S3 may yield an increase in Vmax/Km of greater than or equal to 10-fold with either enzyme, but many residues are accepted at S2, S3 and S4. Thus, an acrosin assay using Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg p-nitroanilide as a substrate is more than 20-times as sensitive as existing assays with blocked arginine derivatives.
Cyclosporin A (CyA) was given to five patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day orally. No patient was able to take the drug for longer than seven weeks because of side effects including nephrotoxicity. Angio-oedema was noted in three patients and serum C1 esterase inhibitor levels were shown to be depressed in four out of five patients whilst taking CyA. Two patients did experience an improvement in their arthralgia but given the side effects induced we cannot, at present, recommend CyA for the treatment of SLE.
We previously found that the level of the immunoreactive activity of C1 inactivator in the plasma Duchenne-type patients with progressive muscular dystrophy was lower than that in normal boys. Therefore, we investigated the level of the C1 inactivator inhibiting activity against C1 esterase in the serum from PMD patients. The mean level of anti-esterase activity of C1 inactivator against C1 esterase in the serum from PMD was 50% lower than that of the control group (P less than 0.05).
Seventy selected images of chemically crosslinked C1 are analyzed to illustrate structural details of the C1qC1r2C1s2 complex. From inspection of these images, the C1r2C1s2 tetramer can be seen to be located in the region of the C1q arms, cleanly separated from the C1q heads and from at least 90%, if not all, of the C1q stem. From measurements made upon 65 images, the semicone angles formed between the spreading arms and the symmetry axis passing through the stem of C1 may be calculated. Unlike C1q, for which a wide variety of angles is found, the C1 complex appears to possess a restricted range of angular flexibility with an average value of about 50 degrees. The volume inside the cone formed by the spreading arms of C1q is too small to contain the entire C1r2C1s2 tetramer; at least some of the tetramer must lie outside the cone when it is bound to C1q to form C1. From our knowledge of the sizes and structures of its subunits, and from symmetry considerations, a model is proposed for the configuration of the C1 complex in which the middle portion of the C1r2C1s2 tetramer is centrally located among the arms close to the stem of the C1q and with the two protruding ends of the tetramer wrapped around the outside of the cone. Functional implications of this more rigid structure are discussed with relevance to C1q-induced aggregation of latex beads and C1-induced disaggregation.