• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.7 s.80
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• pp.1199-1206
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• 2006

Plasminogen kringle 5 is a potent inhibitor of endothelial tell proliferation like an endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor, angiostatin consisting of plasminogen kringles 1-4. In this study, we produced the recombinant protein of plasminogen kringle 5 (PK5) employing an Pichia expression system and examined its. effect on~endothelial cell migration and its possible inhibitory mechanism. PK5 was expressed in Pichia pastoris GS115 by fusion of the cDNA spanning from Thr456 to Phe546 to the secretion signal sequence of a-factor prepro-peptide. After methanol induction, the secreted PK5 was purified by using S-spin column. SDS-PACE analysis of the purified protein showed one major band of approximately 10kDa. In in vitro migration assays, the purified protein inhibited dose-dependently the migration of human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with an $IC_{50}$ of approximately 500nM. Accordingly, it inhibited bfGF-stimulated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation in HUVECs at 500nM. In addition, it also potently inhibited bFGF-induced cytoskeletal rearrangement of HUVECs. Thus, these results suggest that Pichia-produced PK5 effectively inhibits endothelial cell migration, in part by suppression of ERK1/2 activation and blocking cytoskeleton rearrangement.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.205-213
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• 2003

Various angiogenesis inhibitors target vascular endothelial cells and block tumor angiogenesis. Angiostatin is a specific endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor in clinical trials, which contains only the first four triple loop structures, known as kringle domains. Its generated by proteolytic cleavage of its parent molecule plasminogen, which itself does not exhibit antiangiogenic activity. Kringle domains from prothrombin, apolipoprotein, hepatocyte growth factor, urokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activator also elicit anti-angiogenic or antitumor activities in several model systems, albeit low amino acid sequence identity between angiostatin and each individual kringle. However, the differential effects of each kringle domain on endothelial cell proliferation, and migration observed in these kringle domains, suggest that the amino acid sequence of the primary structure is still important although kringle architecture is essential for anti-mlgiogenic activity. If it is further studied as to how amino acid sequence and kringle architecture contributes in anti-angiogenic activity, with studies on underlying mechanisms of anti-angiogenesis by kringle-based angiogenesis inhibitors, it will provide basis for the development of new potent anti-angiogenesis inhibitors and improvement of the efficacy of angiogenesis inhibitors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1023-1031
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• 2017

The conformational change of cellular prion protein ($PrP^C$) to its misfolded counterpart, termed $PrP^{Sc}$, is mediated by a hypothesized cellular cofactor. This cofactor is believed to interact directly with certain amino acid residues of $PrP^C$. When these are mutated into cationic amino acid residues, $PrP^{Sc}$ formation and prion replication halt in a dominant negative (DN) manner, presumably due to strong binding of the cofactor to mutated $PrP^C$, designated as DN PrP mutants. Previous studies demonstrated that plasminogen and its kringle domains bind to PrP and accelerate $PrP^{Sc}$ generation. In this study, in vitro binding analysis of kringle domains of plasminogen to Q167R DN mutant PrP (PrPQ167R) was performed in parallel with the wild type (WT) and Q218K DN mutant PrP (PrPQ218K). The binding affinity of PrPQ167R was higher than that of WT PrP, but lower than that of PrPQ218K. Scatchard analysis further indicated that, like PrPQ218K and WT PrP, PrPQ167R interaction with plasminogen occurred at multiple sites, suggesting cooperativity in this interaction. Competitive binding analysis using $\small{L}$-lysine or $\small{L}$-arginine confirmed the increase of the specificity and binding affinity of the interaction as PrP acquired DN mutations. Circular dichroism spectroscopy demonstrated that the recombinant PrPs used in this study retained the ${\alpha}$-helix-rich structure. The ${\alpha}$-helix unfolding study revealed similar conformational stability for WT and DN-mutated PrPs. This study provides an additional piece of biochemical evidence concerning the interaction of plasminogen with DN mutant PrPs.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1863-1868
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• 2004

Kringle 5 (K5), located outside of angiostain (K1-4) in human plasminogen, displays more potent antiangiogenic activity on endothelial cell proliferation than angiostatin itself. Using a yeast two-hybrid system in vivo, we have recently identified Rgl2 (guanine nucleotide dissociation stimulator (RalGDS)-like factor 2) as a binding protein of human K5. In order to confirm in vitro protein interaction between K5 and Rgl2, we developed bacterial recombinant expression systems for them. K5 and Rgl2 proteins were expressed in high yields and purified into pure forms with His tags and GST fusion, respectively. GST-pull down experiments clearly demonstrated that K5 interacts specifically with Rgl2 in vitro. These results indicate that Rgl2 functions as a receptor protein for K5 in vitro as well as in vivo, leading to anti-angiogenesis through regulating Ras signaling pathways.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.225-230
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• 2004

A plasminogen kringle domain 1 to 3, rKl-3, was expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of T7 promoter. For the cost-effective production of rKl-3, the induction process was analyzed and optimized. Induction characteristics with lactose were analyzed in terms of induction time and inducer concentration in various culture conditions including batch and high-cell-density fed-batch cultures. In the fed-batch culture, the induction around 6 h after initiation of the DO-stat fed-batch culture resulted in the highest expression level of rKI-3 among the induction points examined. The highest demand of oxygen at this point was crucial for the maximum expression level of rKI-3. As the lactose concentration increased, the expression level also increased, though the expression level showed a plateau above a concentration of 14 mM of lactose. Lactose acted less specifically than IPTG since most of it was hydrolyzed to glucose and galactose. However, using lactose, the cell growth and the maximum expression level of rKl-3 increased by 20% and 24%, respectively, compared with those using IPTG in the fed-batch culture. The lactose seemed to be hydrolyzed by intracellular and extracellular $\beta$-galactosidase liberated by cell lysis at the same time. Residual concentration of glucose was maintained to a a limit of detection by high performance liquid chromatography, and galactose was not consumed by the host strain Escherichia coli BL2l(DE3).

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2006

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) is a multidomain serine protease containing two kringle domains, TK1-2. Previously, Pichia-derived recombinant human TK1-2 has been reported as an angiogenesis inhibitor although t-PA plays an important role in endothelial and tumor cell invasion. In this work, in order to improve in vivo efficacy of TK1-2 through elimination of immune reactivity, we mutated wild type TK1-2 into non-glycosylated form (NE-TK1-2) and examined whether it retains anti-angiogenic activity. The plasmid expressing NE-TK1-2 was constructed by replacing $Asn^{l17}\;and\;Asn^{184}$ with glutamic acid residues. After expression in Pichia pastoris, the secreted protein was purified from the culture broth using S-sepharose and UNO S1-FPLC column. The mass spectrum of NE-TK1-2 showed closely neighboring two peaks, 19631.87 and 19,835.44 Da, and it migrated as one band in SDS-PAGE. The patterns of CD-spectra of these two proteins were almost identical. Functionally, purified NE-TK1-2 was shown to inhibit endothelial cell migration in response to bFGF stimulation at the almost same level as wild type TK1-2. Therefore, the results suggest that non-glycosylated NETK1-2 can be developed as an effective anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor agent devoid of immune reactivity.