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H Jering

Publications and source records attributed to H Jering.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Automated prothrombin-time test with use of a chromogenic peptide substrate and a centrifugal analyzer.

We modified a test for prothrombin time, to automate its performance by centrifugal analysis. The sample is activated with calcium-thromboplastin in the presence of a thrombin-specific chromogenic peptide substrate, Tos-Gly-Pro-Arg-p-nitroaniline (Chromozym TH). The endpoint of the reaction is set as the time after onset until a defined amount of substrate has been cleaved, as reflected in a fixed change in absorbance. The assay is as sensitive as clotting-type methods are to the clotting factors of the extrinsic pathway--except for fibrinogen, which can be estimated from the maximum absorbance difference. Substrate concentration has little effect on the result, and varying it does not significantly change the sensitivity to factor X, which indicates little interference with the enzymes of the coagulation cascade. The method was applied to the Cobas Bio centrifugal analyzer. An external calculator must be used to convert absorbance readings into reaction times, which can be expressed as percent-of-normal values or as "ratios" by use of reagent-specific factors. CVs were less than 2% within run, less than 6% day to day. Overall correlation with the clotting test (r = 0.95) was good. Using the Cobas Bio, we achieved a throughput rate of 200 samples per hour.

Autoanalysis↗

The importance of proteolysis as the initial step of insulin degradation in rat liver homogenates.

It was previously proposed (Varandani, P. T., Proc Natl Acad Sci 69:1681, 1972) that insulin is first degraded by rat liver homogenates in an enzyme-catalyzed reductive process by microsomal glutathione-insulin transhydrogenase before being proteolytically cleaved by the cytosolic enzyme activity designated insulin protease. This study was, however, carried out with concentrations of the hormone 10,000 times the maximal concentration seen in peripheral blood. In the present study, physiological levels of insulin (approximately 0.1 nM) and concentrations of reduced and oxidized glutathione approximating the reductive potentials of normal liver were used. Rates of degradation by separable particulate and soluble components of the homogenate were determined by following enzymatic conversion of [125I]-iodoinsulin to the trichloroacetic acid-solube form. Assessment of the mode of degradation was determined by gel filtration on Sephadex G-50 in the presence of 1 M acetic acid-6M urea. From these studies it was seen that 1) insulin is reduced at a very significant rate nonenzymatically; 2) during short periods of incubation (30 sec) where no significant hormone is reduced nonenzymatically, the rate of cleavage by the insulin protease present in the cytosol is extremely high and the microsomal GIT activity is negligible; and 3) insulin destruction noted in isolated liver cells and perfused liver is most probably due to the insulin protease activity of the cytosol.

Animals↗

Preparation and characterization of the active derivative bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (Kunitz) with the reactive site lysine-15 -- alanine-16 hydrolyzed.

The derivative of the trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (Kunitz), TKI+, was prepared with the reactive-site peptide bond Lys-15-Ala-16 hydrolyzed. This was achieved by selective borohydride reduction of the Cys-14-Cys-38 disulfide bond, followed by tryptic cleavage of the reactive-site peptide bond, air reoxidation of the half-cystine residues, and purification by ion-exchange chromatography. The derivative corresponds to the hypothetical 'modified' inhibitor TKI+, which so far could not be obtained from virgin inhibitor by a direct modification reaction (partial proteolysis). The derivative isolated was homogeneous as revealed by amino acid analysis, disc electrophoresis, inactivation by carboxypeptidase B, and inactivation by sodium borohydride reduction. The inhibitory activity of the sodium-borohydride-reduced inhibitor was fully recovered after air reoxidation. The site of cleavage in the inhibitor was confirmed by performic acid oxidation and subsequent isolation of the two corresponding peptides containing residues 1-15 and 16-58 of the entire polypeptide chain. From several aminopeptidases tested only aminopeptidase K rapidly cleaved Ala-16 and Arg-17 from the modified inhibitor and at a reduced rate Ile-18. Des-(Ala16,Arg17)-inhibitor and des-Ala16-inhibitor are both lacking a strong inhibitory activity against bovine trypsin. This indicates a decrease in the association constant by factor of at least 10(8)-10(10). The reactive-site-modified inhibitor is not subject to further enzymic breakdown and therefore is a permanent inhibitor of trypsin. However, the modified inhibitor forms the inactive complex much slower than virgin inhibitor. In the modified inhibitor the hydrolyzed peptide bone was resynthesized to yield virgin inhibitor by forming the complex with trypsin and subjecting the complex to kinetic control dissociation. This proves that the bond Lys-15--Ala-16 is at the reactive site of this inhibitor. Preparation of a modified and still active inhibitor (Kunitz) is in agreement with the general model proposed for the interaction of proteinase-inhibitor--proteinase interactions. This presents new evidence that this model is generally applicable.

Alanine↗

Replacement of lysine by arginine, phenylalanine and tryptophan in the reactive site of the bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (Kunitz) and change of the inhibitory properties.

The reactive-site sequence of a proteinase inhibitor can be written as . . . -P3-P2-P1-P'1-P'2-P'3- . . . , where-P1-P'1-denotes the reactive site. Three semisynthetic homologues have been synthesized of the bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (Kunitz) with either arginine, phenylalanine or tryptophan in place of the reactive-site residue P1, lysine-15. These homologues correspond to gene products after mutation of the lysine 15 DNA codon to an arginine, phenylalanine or tryptophan DNA codon. Starting from native (virgin) inhibitor, reactive-site hydrolyzed, still active (modified) inhibitor was prepared by chemical and enzymic reactions. Modified inhibitor was then converted into inactive des-Lys15-inhibitor by reaction with carboxypeptidase B. Inactive des-Lys15-inhibitor was reactivated by enzymic replacement of the P1 residue according to Leary and Laskowski, Jr. The introduction of arginine was catalyzed by an inverse reaction with carboxypeptidase B, while phenylalanine or tryptophan were replaced by carboxypeptidase A. The reactivated semisynthetic inhibitors were trapped by complex formation with either trypsin or chymotrypsin. The enzyme - inhibitor complexes were subjected to kinetic-control dissociation, and the semisynthetic virgin inhibitors were isolated. The inhibitory properties of the semisynthetic inhibitors have been investigated against bovine trypsin and chymotrypsin and against porcine pancreatic kallikrein and plasmin. The homologues with either lysine or arginine in the P1 position are equally good inhibitors of trypsin, plasmin and kallikrein. The Arg-15-homologue is a slightly more effective kallikrein inhibitor than the Lys15-inhibitor. The semisynthetic phenylalanine and tryptophan homologues, however, are weak inhibitors of trypsin and still weaker inhibitors of kallikrein, but are excellent inhibitors of chymotrypsin. Their association constant with chymotrypsin is at least ten times higher than that of native Lys-15-inhibitor. A dramatic specificity change is observed with the phenylalanine and tryptophan homologues, which in contrast to the native inhibitor do not at all inhibit porcine plasmin. Thus, the nature of the P1 residue strongly influences the primary inhibitory specificity of the bovine inhibitor (Kunitz).

Amino Acids↗

Kinetics of binding of bovine trypsin-killikrein inhibitor (K unitz) in which the reactive-site peptide bond Lys-15--Ala-16 is cleaved, to alpha-chymotrypsin and beta-trypsin.

Equilibrium measurements of the binding of reactive-site-cleaved (modified) bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (Kunitz) to alpha-chymotrypsin and beta-trypsin show a stoichiometric 1:1 association with high binding constants. At least in the case of chymotrypsin much evidence is presented that the reaction with modified inhibitor leads to the same complex as the reaction with virgin inhibitor does. The association rate constant of modified inhibitor with chymotrypsin at pH 7, 22.5 degrees C is 15.8 M-1 S-1. This is about 2 x 10(4) times slower than the binding of virgin inhibitor to that enzyme. In the analogous reaction of modified inhibitor with beta-trypsin, however, the association rate constant (1.2 x 10(4) M-1 s-1 at pH 6.9, 22.5 degrees C) is of about the same order of magnitude as it is in the reaction of virgin inhibitor and trypsin. These and analogous phenomena observed in the reactions of virgin and modified soybean trypsin inhibitor (Kunitz) with alpha-chymotrypsin and beta-trypsin suggest that the specificity of both inhibitors to trypsin is strongly reflected in the association rate constants of the modified forms. The dissociation rate constants of the complexes of trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor with chymotrypsin or with trypsin towards the modified inhibitor are estimated to be unmeasurably slow (half-life times of 45 or 1.5 x 10(4) years, respectively).

Alanine↗

The effect of cleaving the reactive-site peptide bond Lys-15--Ala-16 on the conformation of bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor (K unitz) as revealed by solvent-perturbation spectra, circular dichroism and fluorescence.

Spectroscopic measurements of virgin bovine trypsin-kallikrein inhibitor and its modified species (in which the reactive-site peptide bond Lys-15--Ala-16 is split) indicate a conformational difference between both proteins. The inhibitor contains four tyrosines but no tryptophan. In the modified inhibitor a tyrosyl blue shift is seen in the difference absorption spectrum of modified against virgin inhibitor. The solvent perturbation spectra show an increase of the fraction of exposed tyrosyls from 0.45 in the virgin inhibitor to 0.59 in the modified form. Comparison of the circular dichroism spectra of the modified and virgin inhibitors reveals a decrease of the mean residue ellipticity in the tyrosine and peptide bond region of the modified inhibitor. In the fluorescence spectra a 50% increase in the quantum yield of the tyrosine fluorescence is observed in the modified inhibitor. All these spectroscopic data support the idea, which is also evidenced by the X-ray crystallographic model, that in the modified inhibitor up to five residues from Ala-16 to Arg-20 gain rotational freedom.

Alanine↗