• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.3-6
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• 2001

In common globular proteins, the native form is in its most stable state. However, the native form of inhibitory serpins (serine protease inhibitors) and some viral membrane fusion proteins is in a metastable state. Metastability in these Proteins is critical to their biological functions. Our previous studies revealed that unusual interactions, such as side-chain overpacking, buried polar groups, surface hydrophobic pockets, and internal cavities are the structural basis of the native metastability. To understand the mechanism by which these structural defects regulate protein functions, cavity-filling mutations of ${\alpha}$1-antitrypsin, a prototype serpin, were characterized. Increasing conformational stability is correlated with decreasing inhibitory activity. Moreover, the activity loss appears to correlate with the decrease in the rate of the conformational switch during complex formation with a target protease. We also increased the stability of ${\alpha}$1-antitrypsin greatly via combining various stabilizing single amino acid substitutions that were distributed throughout the molecule. The results showed that a substantial increase of stability, over 13 kcal/mol, affected the inhibitory activity with a correlation of 11% activity loss per kcal/mol. The results strongly suggest that the native metastability of proteins is indeed a structural design that regulates protein functions and that the native strain of e 1-antitrypsin distributed throughout the molecule regulates the inhibitory function in a concerted manner.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

Thrombin is a serine protease that participates in a variety of biological signaling through protease-activated receptors. Intestinal myofibroblasts play central roles in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. In this study, we found that thrombin-induced apoptosis is mediated by the calcium-mediated activation of cytosolic phospholipase A₂ in the CCD-18Co cell. Thrombin reduced cell viability by inducing apoptosis and proteinase-activated receptor-1 antagonist attenuated thrombin-induced cell death. Endogenous ceramide did not affect the cell viability itself, but a ceramide-mediated pathway was involved in thrombin-induced cell death. Thrombin increased intracellular calcium levels and cytosolic phospholipase A₂ activity. The ceramide synthase inhibitor Fumonisin B1, intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA-AM, and cytosolic phospholipase A₂ inhibitor AACOCF₃ inhibited thrombin-induced cell death. Thrombin stimulated arachidonic acid release and reactive oxygen species generation, which was blocked by AACOCF₃, BAPTA-AM, and the antioxidant reagent Trolox. Taken together, thrombin triggered apoptosis through calcium-mediated activation of cytosolic phospholipase A₂ in intestinal myofibroblasts.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.1513-1520
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• 2023

Kex2 protease (Kex2p) is a membrane-bound serine protease responsible for the proteolytic maturation of various secretory proteins by cleaving after dibasic residues in the late Golgi network. In this study, we present an application of Kex2p as an alternative endoprotease for the in vitro processing of recombinant fusion proteins produced by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The proteins were expressed with a fusion partner connected by a Kex2p cleavage sequence for enhanced expression and easy purification. To avoid in vivo processing of fusion proteins by Kex2p during secretion and to guarantee efficient removal of the fusion partners by in vitro Kex2p processing, P₁', P₂', P₄, and P₃ sites of Kex2p cleavage sites were elaborately manipulated. The general use of Kex2p in recombinant protein production was confirmed using several recombinant proteins.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.285-290
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• 1997

The insulin-like growth factors(IGFs) are bound to several binding proteins(IGFBPs) that appear to regulate IGF transport, receptor binding, and its action. The concentration of these peptides are altered by catabolic conditions. To determine IGF-I and IGFBP levels in noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), sera was obtained from 5 patients and 7 controls. Serum levels of IGF-I in NIDDM were lower than those in either of the controls. By western immunoblot analysis, especially IGFBP-1 levels are increased, whereas IGFBP-3 levels decreased and their fragments was increased in NIDDM serum. IGFBP-3 proteolytic activity in NIDDM sera was inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF), aprotinin, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(EDTA). This pattern of inhibition was consistent with a metal-dependent serine protease. By gelatin zymography, these proteolytic enzymes were identified as the size of 97 and 69 kDa. IGFBP-1, which is primarily insulin regulated, was increased in NIDDM and may modulate circulating IGF-I levels by regulating capillary passage of IGF-I. IGFBP-3 proteolysis markedly reduces its affinity for the IGFs, particularly for IGF-I. This accelerates their kinetics of dissociation, thereby increasing the proportions of IGF-I in free form and its availability to the cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2009

This study was undertaken to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of ATP depletion-induced membrane transport dysfunction and cell death in renal proximal tubular cells. ATP depletion was induced by incubating cells with 2.5 mM potassium cyanide(KCN)/0.1 mM iodoacetic acid(IAA), and membrane transport function and cell viability were evaluated by measuring $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake and trypan blue exclusion, respectively. ATP depletion resulted in a decrease in $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake and cell viability in a time-dependent manner. ATP depletion inhibited $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake in cells, when treated with 2 mM ouabain, a $Na^+$ pump-specific inhibitor, suggesting that ATP depletion impairs membrane transport functional integrity. Alterations in $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake and cell viability induced by ATP depletion were prevented by the hydrogen peroxide scavenger such as catalase and the hydroxyl radical scavengers(dimethylthiourea and thiourea), and amino acids(glycine and alanine). ATP depletion caused arachidonic acid release and increased mRNA levels of cytosolic phospholipase $A_2(cPLA_2)$. The ATP depletion-dependent arachidonic acid release was inhibited by $cPLA_2$ specific inhibitor $AACOCF_3$. ATP depletion-induced alterations in $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake and cell viability were prevented by $AACOCF_3$. Inhibition of $Na^+$-dependent phosphate uptake by ATP depletion was prevented by antipain and leupetin, serine/cysteine protease inhibitors, whereas ATP depletion-induced cell death was not altered by these agents. These results indicate that ATP depletion-induced alterations in membrane transport function and cell viability are due to reactive oxygen species generation and $cPLA_2$ activation in renal proximal tubular cells. In addition, the present data suggest that serine/cysteine proteases play an important role in membrane transport dysfunction, but not cell death, induced by ATP depletion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1944-1953
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• 2015

A novel alkaline protease from Streptomyces sp. M30, SapHM, was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and DEAE-Sepharose chromatography, with a yield of 15.5% and a specific activity of 29,070 U/mg. Tryptic fragments of the purified SapHM were obtained by electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the gene sapHM contained 1,179 bp, corresponding to 392 amino acids with conserved Asp156, His187, and Ser339 residues of alkaline protease. The first 24 amino acid residues were predicted to be a signal peptide, and the molecular mass of the mature peptide was 37.1 kDa based on amino acid sequences and mass spectrometry. Pure SapHM was optimally active at 80℃ in 50 mM glycine-NaOH buffer (pH 9.0), and was broadly stable at 0-50℃ and pH 4.0-9.0. The protease relative activity was increased in the presence of Ni²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Cu²⁺ to 112%, 113%, and 147% of control, respectively. Pure SapHM was also activated by dimethylformamide, dimethyl sulfoxide, Tween 80, and urea. The activity of the purified enzyme was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, indicating that it is a serine-type protease. The K_m and V_max values were estimated to be 35.7 mg/ml, and 5 × 10⁴ U/mg for casein. Substrate specificity analysis showed that SapH was active on casein, bovine serum albumin, and bovine serum fibrin.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.82-89
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• 1998

This study was performed to elucidate the purification and characterization of pretease from saewoo-jeot, a Korean traditional salt-fermented shrimp product. The protease in saewoo-jeot (Acetes japonicus) were extracted, desalted through electrodialysis and purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration and DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. Purified enzyme had specific activity of 8.4 unit/mg, yield of 14% and purification fold of 9.8. Purified enzyme was confirmed as single band protein by polyacrylamide gel electrophresis and the molecular weight was estimated to be about 24 kDa. The optimal pH and temperature for the enzyme activity were 8.0 and $40^{\circ}C$, respectively. The range of its stability to the pH and temperature were 7.0 to 10.0 and $30^{\circ}C\;to\;60^{\circ}C$, respectively. The activity of enzyme to synthetic substrate showed BAPNA and TAME. The enzyme was activated significantly by manganese ions, while inhibited by STI, TLCK. metals $(K^+,\;Li^+,\;Na^+,\;Ca^{++},\;Co^{++},\;Cu^{++},\;Mg^{++},\;Ba^{++},\;Hg^{++},\;Zn^{++},\;Fe^{+++})$. The Km value of the enzyme was $5.1{\times}10^{-7}\;M$ to hammersten casein. It's suggested that purified protease from saewoo-jeot seemed to be trypsin-like enzyme.

• BMB Reports
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.294-299
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• 2000

Proteolytic processing of the dengue virus serotype 2 polyprotein precursor is catalyzed by a host signal peptidase and a virus encoded two-component protease consisting of the nonstructural proteins, NS2B and NS3. We expressed in Escherichia coli the NS2B, NS3(pro) and NS2B-NS3 proteins from the dengue virus type 2 strain 16681 as N-terminal fusions with a hexahistidine affinity tag under the control of the inducible trc promoter. All fusion proteins were purified to >90% purity by detergent extraction of inclusion bodies and a single step metal chelate chromatography. Proteins were refolded on-column and recovered with yields of 0.5, 6.0 and 1.0 mg/l of E. coli culture that was grown to $OD_{600}=1.0$ for NS2B, NS3(pro) and NS2B-NS3, respectively. Purified proteins gave strong signals in Western blots using $Ni^{2+}-nitrilotriacetic$ acid as a probe for the presence of the polyHis tag. During the purification process, $(His)_{6}NS2B-NS3$ was apparently not autoproteolytically cleaved at the NS2B/NS3 site.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.766-771
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• 2008

The proteolytic enzyme from Saccharomyces sp. B101 was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulfate fractionation, ultrafiltration, diethyl aminoethyl (DEAE)-Sephadex A-50 ion-exchange chromatography, and Sephadex G-100 gel filtration chromatography from the culture supernatant of Saccharomyces sp. B101. The specific activity and the purification fold of the purified enzyme were 4,688.9 unit/mg and 18, respectively. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 33 kDa by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme activity were pH 8.5 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The enzyme activity was relatively stable in the pH range of 6.5-8.5 at below $35^{\circ}C$. The salt-tolerance and stability for the enzyme activity were relatively stable even at NaCl concentrations of 10 and 15%. The activity of enzyme was inhibited by $Ag^{2+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$, and activated by $Mn^{2+}$. In addition, the enzyme activity was potently inhibited by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and phenylmethyl sulfonylfluoride (PMSF). Based on these findings we concluded that the purified enzyme was a serine protease. Km and Vmax values for hammastein milk casein were 1.02 mg/mL and 278.38 unit/mL, respectively.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.564-574
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• 2022

Epithin/PRSS14 is a membrane serine protease that plays a key role in tumor progression. The protease exists on the cell surface until its ectodomain shedding, which releases most of the extracellular domain. Previously, we showed that the remaining portion on the membrane undergoes intramembrane proteolysis, which results in the liberation of the intracellular domain and the intracellular domain-mediated gene expression. In this study, we investigated how the intramembrane proteolysis for the nuclear function is initiated. We observed that ectodomain shedding of epithin/PRSS14 in mouse breast cancer 4T1 cells increased depending on environmental conditions and was positively correlated with invasiveness of the cells and their proinvasive cytokine production. We identified selenite as an environmental factor that can induce ectodomain shedding of the protease and increase C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) secretion in an epithin/PRSS14-dependent manner. Additionally, by demonstrating that the expression of the intracellular domain of epithin/PRSS14 is sufficient to induce CCL2 secretion, we established that epithin/PRSS14-dependent shedding and its subsequent intramembrane proteolysis are responsible for the metastatic conversion of 4T1 cells under these conditions. Consequently, we propose that epithin/PRSS14 can act as an environment-sensing receptor that promotes cancer metastasis by liberating the intracellular domain bearing transcriptional activity under conditions promoting ectodomain shedding.