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Biomedical subjects

J B Baker

Publications and source records attributed to J B Baker.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Protease nexin I, a serpin, inhibits plasminogen-dependent degradation of muscle extracellular matrix.

Clonal, fusing, mouse skeletal muscle cells (C2) were grown to the myotube stage (90% confluence) before they were subjected to isotope-containing serum-free media (3H-proline or 35S-methionine). C2 myotubes secrete and organize a biosynthetically labeled matrix which adheres to the plastic after removal of myotubes with detergent and ammonium hydroxide. When these homotypic-labeled myotube matrices were incubated with myoblast-conditioned media containing high specific activity urokinase-type plasminogen activator, slow, but clearly detectable, release of label occurred. However, degradation of matrix, with solubilization of label, was accelerated sixfold by addition of human plasminogen to diluted myoblast-conditioned media. If protease nexin I, a cellular serine protease inhibitor purified from human fibroblast-conditioned media, was added (0.2 microgram/ml) with plasminogen, inhibition of matrix hydrolysis by 52% occurred. Higher concentrations (0.8 microgram/ml or above) of protease nexin 1 completely inhibited the degradation of extracellular matrix components. A similar protease inhibitor was purified from C2 myotube-conditioned media, and this molecule also inhibited the plasminogen-dependent release of extracellular matrix. We propose that protease nexin 1 inhibits the destruction of myotube matrix by inactivating the plasmin/plasminogen activation system and may be the physiologic regulator of this system during muscle development in vivo.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1989

A form of protease nexin I is expressed on the platelet surface during platelet activation.

A protein that has several similarities to protease nexin I, a fibroblast thrombin and urokinase inhibitor, has been detected on platelets (Gronke RS, Bergman BL, and Baker JB: J Biol Chem 262:3030, 1987). On incubation of platelets with 125I-thrombin, this platelet protein forms complexes with 125I-thrombin that are found both in the incubation medium and, as demonstrated here, associated with purified platelet plasma membranes. The present results indicate that interaction with the platelet surface may modulate the conformation and function of this platelet form of protease nexin I (PNIp) because: (a) an antibody against protease nexin I inhibited released PNIp, but not platelet-bound PNIp from complexing 125I-thrombin, and (b) whereas PNIp extracted from platelets bound both thrombin and urokinase, platelet-bound PNIp bound only thrombin. In experiments using several different platelet isolation methods, PNIp accounted for a large fraction of the rapid high affinity binding of 125I-thrombin to platelets. However, platelets isolated and maintained in the presence of metabolic inhibitors failed to take added thrombin into 125I-thrombin-PNIp complexes. This finding suggests that PNIp is released from inside platelets during activation, and thus does not function to transmit the primary activating signal that is generated by thrombin binding to platelets.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1988

Functional and structural similarities between protease nexin I and C1 inhibitor.

Protease nexin I is a proteinase inhibitor that is secreted by human fibroblasts and forms stable complexes with certain serine proteinases; the complexes then bind to the fibroblasts and are rapidly internalized and degraded. In this report, we show that this inhibitor, which is present in very low concentrations in plasma, has functional and structural similarities to C1 inhibitor, an abundant proteinase inhibitor in plasma. Both inhibitors complex and inactivate certain proteinases that previously were known to rapidly react only with C1 inhibitor. Kinetic inhibition studies show that protease nexin I inhibits Factor XIIa and plasma kallikrein with second-order rate constants of 2.3 x 10(3) and 2.5 x 10(5) M-1 s-1, respectively, which are similar to the rate constants for inhibition of these proteinases by C1 inhibitor. Protease nexin I inhibits C1s about one-tenth as rapidly as does C1 inhibitor. Alignment of the amino acid sequences of protease nexin I and C1 inhibitor shows that these proteins have similarity at their reactive centers (from sites P7 to P1). The remaining regions of the two proteins share much less similarity. In contrast to protease nexin I, C1 inhibitor is not secreted by human fibroblasts. Although 125I-C1s-protease nexin I complexes readily bind to human fibroblasts, binding of 125I-C1s-C1 inhibitor complexes or other 125I-proteinase-C1-inhibitor complexes to these cells is not detectable. Thus, protease nexin I and C1 inhibitor may control some common regulatory proteinases in the extravascular and vascular compartments, respectively.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Linkage of extracellular plasminogen activator to the fibroblast cytoskeleton: colocalization of cell surface urokinase with vinculin.

Several cell types display binding sites for [125I]urokinase (Vassalli, J.-D., D. Baccino, D. Belin. 1985. J. Cell Biol. 100:86-92) which in certain cases are occupied with endogenous urokinase. These sites appear to focus urokinase at cell surfaces and hence may participate in tissue matrix destruction and cell invasion. Recently Pöllänen et al. (1987) demonstrated that the cell surface urokinase of human fibroblasts and fibrosarcoma cells is deposited underneath the cells in strands, apparently at sites of cell-to-substratum contact. Here, using immunofluorescence double labeling, we show that the urokinase strands present on human foreskin fibroblasts are colocalized with strands of vinculin, an intracellular actin-binding protein that is deposited at cell-to-substratum focal adhesion sites. Thus, this indicates linkage of the plasminogen/plasmin system both to sites of cell adhesion and to the cytoskeleton. The urokinase strands on HT 1080 fibrosarcoma cells are more numerous and have shapes that are more tortuous than those on normal fibroblasts. In intact HT 1080 cells, colocalized vinculin strands are obscured by an intense background of soluble vinculin but are apparent on isolated ventral plasma membranes. Certain properties of the urokinase strands suggest that they are related to the [125I]urokinase-binding sites that have been described by several groups: (a) incubating fibroblasts with dexamethasone for 48 h or at pH 3 at 5 degrees C for 10 min greatly decreases the number and intensity of the urokinase strands; (b) strands reappear when glucocorticoid-treated cells are incubated with exogenous 54-kD (but not 35-kD) urokinase, and this process is inhibited by a previously described 16-amino acid peptide that blocks [125I]urokinase binding to the cells.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1988

Vertical restraints among hospitals, physicians and health insurers that raise rivals' costs. A case study of Reazin v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, Inc. and Ocean State Physicians Health Plan, Inc. v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island.

Two recent district court opinions consider whether affiliations among hospitals, doctors and health insurers--through contract or ownership--violate the antitrust laws. This Article applies a raising rivals' costs framework to the facts of those cases in order to assess whether the practices at issue were unreasonable.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance Plans↗
PubMed1987

Thrombin interaction with platelets. Influence of a platelet protease nexin.

A fraction of the 125I-thrombin that binds to human platelets is taken into a sodium dodecyl sulfate-resistant 77 kDa complex with a platelet factor (Bennett, W. F., and Glenn, K. C. (1980) Cell 22, 621-627). Here we show that this platelet factor is in several respects similar to protease nexin I (PNI), a fibroblast thrombin inhibitor. The complexes are of the appropriate size, bind to Sepharose that has been derivatized with anti-PNI antibody, do not form when the thrombin active site has been blocked with diisopropylphosphofluoridate, and do not appear on platelets when heparin is present. However, the platelet factor does not bind urokinase, indicating that this "platelet PN" may be distinct from PNI. Following brief incubation with 125I-thrombin, platelet PN X 125I X thrombin complexes are found both associated with the platelets and free in the binding medium. 125I-Thrombin has a higher affinity for platelet PN than for platelet receptors. In 30-s binding incubations carried out with thrombin at concentrations below 0.3 nM, formation of the 77-kDa complex accounts for most of the platelet specific binding of 125I-thrombin. Subtracting this large contribution to 125I-thrombin-specific binding reveals that the reversible binding of 125I-thrombin to platelet receptors exhibits sigmoidal thrombin dose-dependence. Thrombin stimulation of platelet [14C]serotonin release exhibits similar thrombin dose dependence. These results indicate that platelets may possess a mechanism for suppressing their interaction with active thrombin at thrombin doses below 0.3 nM. It is possible that platelet PN carries out this function by capturing thrombin before thrombin binds to its signal-transmitting receptors.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1986

Formation of protease nexin-thrombin complexes on the platelet surface.

We have recently described a platelet factor that is similar to the fibroblast thrombin inhibitor protease nexin I (PNI). The present manuscript shows that this platelet form of PN (PNp) does not complex [125I]-thrombin that has been blocked at its active site, consistent with the conclusion that it is a thrombin inhibitor. When platelets are incubated with [125I]-thrombin, PNp-[125I]-thrombin complexers accumulate both in the medium and on the platelet surface. In the case of fibroblasts, PNI-[125I]-thrombin complexes that form in solution bind to the cells as a consequence of a receptor-mediated clearance process [Low et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78:2340, 1981]. We show here that the PNp-[125I]-thrombin complexes that accumulate in platelet-binding incubation medium do not bind to platelets. Thus, the platelet-associated complexes must form by [125I]-thrombin binding to PNp that is associated with the platelet surface. Pretreatment of platelets with heparin markedly increases the number of PNp-[125I]-thrombin complexes that form on platelets. The basis for this increase is unclear. This effect seems incompatible with a heparinlike factor acting as the surface binding site for PNp.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1986

Inhibition of tumor-cell-mediated extracellular matrix destruction by a fibroblast proteinase inhibitor, protease nexin I.

Human fibrosarcoma (HT-1080) cells, in contrast to normal fibroblasts, rapidly hydrolyze the glycoprotein, collagen, and elastin extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesized by cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells. This degradation occurs at a rapid rate in the presence of serum, indicating that the cellular proteases responsible are relatively insensitive to serum proteinase inhibitors. Here it is shown that protease nexin I (PNI), a fibroblast-secreted inhibitor of urokinase, plasmin, and certain other serine proteinases, effectively inhibited the HT-1080 cell-mediated degradation of this ECM. PNI at 2.0 nM significantly inhibited matrix destruction for 1-2 days and at 0.2 microM caused a virtually complete inhibition that persisted for the entire 10-day period of observation. Inhibition of ECM destruction was accompanied by a transient arrest of HT-1080 cell proliferation that took place during the first 3 days after PNI addition. PNI did not inhibit the growth of normal fibroblasts and also did not inhibit the growth of HT-1080 cells that were seeded onto plastic dishes rather than onto ECM. Like many types of malignant cells, HT-1080 cells release large amounts of urokinase. Antibody against this plasminogen activator partially protected ECM from HT-1080 cell-mediated hydrolysis, indicating that it may have been a target of PNI. One potential physiological function of PNI could be to help maintain the integrity of connective tissue matrices, protection that malignant cells could overcome by secreting proteinases in excessive amounts.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1986

Membrane glycoproteins from spermatozoa: partial characterization of an integral Mr = approximately 24,000 molecule from rat spermatozoa that is glycosylated during epididymal maturation.

Spermatozoa from the rat cauda epididymidis were treated with either the galactose oxidase-NaB[3H]4 or the NaIO4-NaB [3H]4 technique to label cell surface moieties of galactose and sialic acid, respectively. Following extraction with 40 mM octyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (OBG), electrophoresis in sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gels (SDS-PAGE) revealed a single radioactive peak migrating at Mr = approximately 24,000 in 11.2%, 14% and 16.8% tube gels. SDS-PAGE of the same OBG extract on 5.6% and 14% gels showed that this molecule was the same as that reported elsewhere, having a molecular weight varying from 32,000 to 37,000. The amount of labeled molecule extracted with 8 M urea or with 6 M guanidine-HCl was 30 and 50%, respectively, of that achieved with OBG. However, when labeled sperm were treated under other conditions (at pH 8, pH 3, 0.1-3 M NaCl [at pH 7.2], 5 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid [EDTA], 20-200 mM dithiothreitol or 20-200 mM betamercaptoethanol, at varying temperatures and extraction times), the amount of labeled molecule extracted was less than 1% of that obtained with OBG. The molecule aggregates in aqueous buffers, as shown by chromatography using Sephadex G-100 and by centrifugation through a sucrose density gradient. Analysis by charge-shift electrophoresis suggested that the molecule contains an exposed hydrophobic domain(s). Mild trypsin treatment released all the labeled carbohydrate with the majority of the label attached to a Mr = 10,000 fragment. These data support the hypothesis that the molecule is an integral membrane glycoprotein, and suggest that it is only partially buried in the lipid matrix of the plasma membrane.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Urokinase binding sites on human foreskin cells. Evidence for occupancy with endogenous urokinase.

In cultures of human foreskin fibroblasts most of the cell surface binding sites for 2-chain urokinase are masked and can be exposed by 10 min. incubation on ice at pH 2.5 (A. Bajpai and J.B. Baker (1985), Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.133, 475-482). Here we show that incubation on ice at pH 2.5 also releases from the cell surface a plasminogen activator that is similar to 2-chain urokinase in terms of its electrophoretic mobility, chromatographic behavior on concanavalin A-Sepharose or p-amino-benzamidine-Sepharose, and sensitivity to anti-urokinase antibody. Two observations suggest that the masked binding sites are sites occupied by this cell surface urokinase. First, glucocorticoid-treated cells, which lack cell surface urokinase, have a large number of urokinase binding sites but none that are masked. Second, the extraction of surface urokinase and the exposure of urokinase binding sites exhibit similar pH dependence. Both are complete at about pH 4.0.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Cryptic urokinase binding sites on human foreskin fibroblasts.

Human foreskin cells possess sites on their surfaces that specifically bind both active and diisopropylphosphofluoridate-inactivated 2 chain 54 K Da [125I]-urokinase, but do not bind the 54 K Da single chain form of urokinase. 125I-urokinase bound to these sites is not internalized and is very slow to dissociate. There are about 40,000 available binding sites per cell. Brief incubation with pH 2.5 buffer at 5 degrees C unmasks another two to six fold more sites and also extracts plasminogen activator that, based on its accessibility to trypsin, appears to be at the cell surface. This suggests that the cryptic urokinase binding sites could be sites occupied with endogenous plasminogen activator.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1985

Protease nexin. Properties and a modified purification procedure.

The present paper describes chemical and functional properties of protease nexin, a serine protease inhibitor released from cultured human fibroblasts. It is shown that protease nexin is actually synthesized by fibroblasts and represents about 1% of their secreted protein. Analysis of the amino acid composition of purified protease nexin indicates that it is evolutionarily related to antithrombin III and heparin cofactor II. Protease nexin contains approximately 6% carbohydrate, with 2.3% amino sugar, 1.1% neutral sugar, and 3.0% sialic acid. The Mr calculated from equilibrium sedimentation analysis is 43,000. Protease nexin is a broad specificity inhibitor of trypsin-like serine proteases. It reacts rapidly with trypsin (kassoc = 4.2 +/- 0.4 X 10(6) M-1 s-1), thrombin (kassoc = 6.0 +/- 1.3 X 10(5) M-1 s-1), urokinase (kassoc = 1.5 +/- 0.1 X 10(5) M-1 s-1), and plasmin (kassoc = 1.3 +/- 0.1 X 10(5) M-1 s-1), and slowly inhibits Factor Xa and the gamma subunit of nerve growth factor but does not inhibit chymotrypsin-like proteases or leukocyte elastase. In the presence of heparin, protease nexin inhibits thrombin at a nearly diffusion-controlled rate. Two heparin affinity classes of protease nexin can be detected. The present characterization pertains to the fraction of protease nexin having the higher affinity for heparin. The low affinity material, which is the minor fraction, is lost during purification.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1984

Purification of human fibroblast urokinase proenzyme and analysis of its regulation by proteases and protease nexin.

Recently we presented evidence that normal human foreskin fibroblasts (HF cells) limit the activity of secreted urokinase by secreting it as a proenzyme and by secreting protease nexin , an inhibitor of urokinase and certain other serine proteases (Scott, R.W., Eaton, D. L. Duran , N., and Baker, J.B. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 4397-4403). Using immunoaffinity chromatography we have now purified the HF cell urokinase proenzyme. It is a single 52-kDa polypeptide chain that is inactive toward both plasminogen and low molecular weight substrates. After proteolytic activation, this material (specific activity of 3 X 10(4) Committee on Thrombolytic Agents units/mg) is composed of two disulfide-bridged 33- and 19-kDa chains, and is thus similar to the predominant form of urokinase found in urine. Plasmin at 2 X 10(-10) M causes 50% activation of the proenzyme (1 X 10(-9) M) in 30 min at 37 degrees C. Thrombin and trypsin are one-twentieth as effective as plasmin. Activated HF cell 125I-urokinase forms sodium dodecyl sulfate stable complexes with purified protease nexin or protease nexin present in medium conditioned by HF cells. Purified protease nexin inhibits purified HF cell urokinase action on both plasminogen and low molecular weight substrates. The association rate constant for the reaction between protease nexin and HF cell urokinase is approximately 1.7 X 10(5) M-1 S-1. In contrast, the association rate constants for reactions between protease nexin and the one- and two-chain forms of tissue-type plasminogen activator are approximately 2 X 10(3) and approximately 3 X 10(4) M-1 S-1, respectively. The importance of protease nexin as a regulator of HF cell urokinase is supported by the finding that anti-protease nexin antibody potentiates the fibrinolytic activity of HF cell-conditioned medium incubated with plasminogen.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1983

Purification of human protease nexin.

Addition of several arginine-specific serine proteases to culture medium conditioned by fibroblasts results in the proteases being taken into sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes with a secreted factor termed protease nexin (PN) (Baker, J. B., Low, D. A., Simmer, R. L., and Cunningham, D. D. (1980) Cell 21, 37-45). PN not only inhibits these degradative enzymes but also mediates their binding, internalization, and degradation by the cells (Low, D. A., Baker, J. B., Koonce, W. C., and Cunningham, D. D. (1981) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 78, 2340-2344). Here we describe a simple procedure for purifying milligram quantities of PN from serum-free medium conditioned by human foreskin cells. Accumulation of PN in the medium is increased by using high density microcarrier cultures supplemented with epidermal growth factor and bovine serum albumin. Application of ultrafiltration-concentrated medium to a heparin-Sepharose column followed by extensive washing of the column with buffer containing 0.2 M NaCl and elution with buffer containing 1.0 M NaCl results in the recovery of 60-90% of the input PN in a form that is 90-97% pure. This preparation can be further purified by hydrophobic chromatography on octyl-agarose. Purified PN has a molecular mass of approximately 51 kilodaltons. On nonequilibrium pH gradient electrophoresis it migrates as five bands with isoelectric points between 7.5 and 7.8. Purified PN exhibits all the properties attributed to PN in culture medium. These include: 1) formation of sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable complexes with thrombin, urokinase, and plasmin; 2) inhibition of protease activity; 3) heparin-enhanced inhibition of thrombin; and 4) cellular binding of protease-PN complexes in a heparin-sensitive reaction. When thrombin-PN complexes are dissociated with 1 M hydroxylamine a smaller form of PN (approximately 46 kilodaltons) is detected by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicating that the complexed PN is proteolytically modified.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗
PubMed1983

Regulation of extracellular plasminogen activator by human fibroblasts. The role of protease nexin.

When the plasminogen activator urokinase was radioiodinated and incubated at 40 ng/ml in medium conditioned by human foreskin (HF) cells, within 30 min over 80% of the added plasminogen activator was complexed to cell-released protease nexin (PN). The urokinase complexed to PN had little if any activity. Incubation of purified PN with urokinase confirmed that PN is an inhibitor of this plasminogen activator. However, a widely used plasminogen-dependent fibrinolysis assay for plasminogen activator indicated that abundant endogenous plasminogen activator activity co-existed with PN in HF cell-conditioned medium. The source of this activity was electrophoretically and immunologically indistinguishable from urokinase. Furthermore, gel exclusion chromatography showed that about 90% of the urokinase antigen detected in conditioned medium had a molecular weight similar to that of free active urokinase. These paradoxical findings are resolved by evidence that this "PN-resistant urokinase-like" plasminogen activator is actually urokinase proenzyme that is activated by plasmin or conditions in the fibrinolysis assay for plasminogen activator. It is shown that the activated form of HF cell plasminogen activator is sensitive to inhibition by PN. PN may thus be an important component in the cellular regulation of endogenous plasminogen activator activity.

Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor↗