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K Danø

Publications and source records attributed to K Danø.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for human urokinase-type plasminogen activator and its proenzyme using a combination of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.

A sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) and its inactive proenzyme (pro-u-PA) was developed. A monoclonal antibody was used as solid-phase antibody, while rabbit antibodies against human u-PA followed by peroxidase-conjugated third antibody were used for detection of bound u-PA. No reaction was observed with tissue-type plasminogen activator or with a variety of other human proteins. The assay was used for quantitation of u-PA in human urine and in culture fluid from human tumor cells. The recovery of added pro-u-PA was greater than 95%. A good agreement with the results obtained by enzymatic assays was found. The detection limit was less than 0.1 ng per ml, both for u-PA and pro-u-PA. The advantages of the use of ELISA compared with enzymatic assays and radioimmunoassays for quantitation of u-PA and pro-u-PA in biological samples are discussed.

Antibodies↗

Proenzyme to urokinase-type plasminogen activator in the mouse in vivo.

We have investigated whether urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) is present in the mouse in vivo as the proenzyme or as the active enzyme. u-PA in extracts of various murine tissues was of a one-polypeptide chain form with an electrophoretic mobility indistinguishable from purified proenzyme (pro-u-PA), as demonstrated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing conditions followed by immunoblotting. No 2-chain u-PA was detected in any of the extracts (detection limit 10% of that of one-chain u-PA). In bladder urine more than half of the u-PA was of the one-chain form. Together with previous immunocytochemical studies of the normal murine tissues and studies of the Lewis lung carcinoma, the present results indicate that in these tissues the one-chain proenzyme is the predominant form of u-PA in intracellular stores and for the first time demonstrates that at least in some cases the one-chain form constitutes a sizeable fraction of the u-AP in extracellular fluids in the intact organism.

Animals↗

Immunocytochemical demonstration of tissue-type plasminogen activator in endocrine cells of the rat pituitary gland.

We immunocytochemically stained rat pituitary glands using antibodies against plasminogen activators of the tissue type (t-PA) and the urokinase type (u-PA). A large population of endocrine cells in the anterior lobe of the gland displayed intense cytoplasmic immunoreactivity with anti-t-PA. In some areas of the intermediate lobe we found a weak staining, and we observed weakly staining granular structures in the posterior lobe. Controls included absorption of the antibodies with highly purified t-PA. In addition, SDS PAGE followed by immunoblotting of pituitary gland extracts revealed only one band with an electrophoretic mobility similar to that of t-PA when stained with anti-t-PA IgG. No u-PA immunoreactivity was detected in the rat pituitary gland. Sequential staining experiments using antibodies against growth hormone and t-PA demonstrated that the t-PA-immunoreactive cells constitute a large subpopulation of the growth hormone-containing cells. These findings represent the first direct evidence for the presence of t-PA in cell types other than endothelial cells in the intact normal organism. In this article we discuss the implications of the results for a possible role of t-PA in the posttranslational processing of prohormones.

Animals↗

Plasminogen activator in psoriatic scales is of the tissue-type PA as identified by monoclonal antibodies.

Extracts of scale from four patients with psoriasis all contained plasminogen activator. All plasminogen activator activity was of the tissue-type (t-PA) as judged from the following criteria: all enzyme activity was inhibited by a monoclonal antibody against human t-PA, while there was no measurable inhibition by a monoclonal antibody against human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA); as determined by zymography the extracts contained one type of plasminogen activator which had an electrophoretic mobility identical to that of purified t-PA; this plasminogen activator was removed by passage through a Sepharose column coupled with a monoclonal antibody against t-PA, but not by passage through a column coupled with a monoclonal antibody against u-PA. On a molar basis the detection limit for u-PA was 10% of that of t-PA present.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Human endothelial cells contain one type of plasminogen activator.

At least two types of animal plasminogen activating enzymes exist, differing in amino acid sequence, molecular mass and immunological reactivity: the urokinase-type and the tissue-type plasminogen activators. By affinity chromatography with monoclonal antibodies, we have purified the human activators of both types to homogeneity. Using immunocytochemistry with rabbit antibodies raised against these preparations, we now demonstrate that the plasminogen activator present in endothelium of veins and other blood vessels is of the tissue-type. No urokinase-type plasminogen activator immunoreactivity was detected in endothelial cells in the intact organism. These findings support the assumption that mobilization of plasmin for different purposes may involve different types of plasminogen activators, and that the plasminogen activator involved in thrombolysis is of the tissue-type.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Inactive proenzyme to tissue-type plasminogen activator from human melanoma cells, identified after affinity purification with a monoclonal antibody.

The human 66 000 mol. wt. plasminogen activator (HPA66; tissue-type plasminogen activator) has been purified from melanoma cells by a one-step affinity method with a monoclonal antibody. HPA66 purified in this way consists mainly of a one-polypeptide chain form with small amounts (15%) of a form containing two polypeptide chains held together by one or more disulphide bridges. The one-chain form was converted to the two-chain form by catalytic amounts of plasmin. During the conversion, the enzyme activity of HPA66, as measured by an [125I]plasminogen conversion assay and with a chromogenic substrate, increased linearly with the percentage of the two-chain form. A linear regression analysis showed that all enzyme activity could be accounted for by the two-chain form, while the one-chain form had no measurable enzyme activity (detection limit approximately 5% of the activity of the two-chain form). Together with previous findings of inactive proenzymes to murine and human approximately 50 000 mol. wt. (urokinase-type) plasminogen activators, these findings indicate that plasminogen activators are generally formed from inactive one-chain proenzymes which are converted to active two-chain enzymes by limited proteolysis, thus demonstrating a third step in a cascade reaction leading to extracellular proteolysis.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Distribution of urokinase-type plasminogen activator immunoreactivity in the mouse.

Immunocytochemistry, using rabbit antibodies to a urokinase-type 48-Kdalton Mr mouse plasminogen activator, showed that enzyme immunoreactivity is widely distributed in the normal mouse. Strong staining was obtained in widely disseminated connective tissue cells with a fibroblast-like morphology. Such cells occurred in high numbers in the lamina propria mucosae of the gastrointestinal tract, and in moderate numbers in the connective tissue septa of the pancreas. A few such cells were detected around the larynx, trachea, and bronchi. Immunoreactivity also occurred in epithelial cells of the proximal and distal kidney tubules, the ductus deferens, and in pulmonary pneumocytes. In addition, presumably extracellular staining was seen irregularly along the basement membrane and fibrillar structures in the lamina propria of the small and large intestines. Moreover, decidual cells of the mouse placenta stained strongly, and a moderate staining was observed in epithelial cells of involuting mammary glands, but not in those of noninvoluting glands. No immunoreactivity was observed in endothelial cells. Control experiments included absorption of the antibodies against highly-purified mouse plasminogen activator and the corresponding proenzyme, and the finding of a good correspondence between the number of immunoreactive cells and measurable enzymatic activity determined in adjacent tissue sections. Separation by SDS PAGE followed by immunoblotting revealed only one immunochemically stainable protein band with Mr approximately 48 Kdaltons in extracts from tissues showing immunoreactivity.

Animals↗

Immunocytochemical localization of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in Lewis lung carcinoma.

The invasively growing and metastasizing Lewis lung carcinoma consistently contained urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) enzyme activity. When investigated immunocytochemically with antibodies against u-PA, different parts of individual tumors showed a pronounced heterogeneity in staining intensity. Strong staining was found in areas with invasive growth and degradation of surrounding normal tissue, while other areas were completely devoid of staining. Immunoreactivity occurred both with a perinuclear cytoplasmic localization in tumor cells and associated with apparently extracellular material. SDS PAGE of tumor extracts, under both reducing and nonreducing conditions, followed by immunoblotting, showed only one immunocytochemically stainable band with an electrophoretic mobility corresponding to that of purified proenzyme to u-PA, while no two-chain u-PA was detected. This indicates that the major part of the activator in Lewis lung carcinoma is present as one-chain pro-u-PA.

Animals↗

Monoclonal antibody to human 66,000 molecular weight plasminogen activator from melanoma cells. Specific enzyme inhibition and one-step affinity purification.

Hybridomas producing a monoclonal IgG1 antibody to a human plasminogen-activating enzyme with an apparent mol. wt. of 66,000 (66 K, HPA66) from human melanoma cells were obtained by fusion of NSI-Ag 4/1 mouse myeloma cells with spleen cells from a mouse immunized with a partially purified preparation of the enzyme. Screening for clones of hybridomas producing antibodies to HPA66 was performed with the impure enzyme preparation. A preliminary screening included enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) followed by immunoblotting; the final identification was based on inhibition of the enzymatic activity of HPA66 which was complete at high antibody concentrations. No inhibition of three other human and murine plasminogen activators or of plasmin was observed. Employing a one-step affinity procedure with the antibody coupled to Sepharose, HPA66 was purified approximately 200-fold from conditioned medium from the melanoma cells with a yield of 79%. The purified HPA66 was homogeneous as evaluated by SDS-PAGE. Electrophoresis under reducing conditions indicated that it consisted of one polypeptide chain. The binding constant between the antibody and 125I-labelled HPA66 was approximately 2.5 x 10(9) l/mol. The antibody did not bind to a variety of other plasminogen activators, including 52-K and 36-K human enzymes and 48-K and 75-K murine enzymes. Previously, a monoclonal antibody against another enzyme was derived by the sole use of enzyme inhibition for screening. The present study represents a modification of this procedure that can be used when antibody-unrelated inhibitors of the enzyme are present in hybridoma culture fluid.

Animals↗

Mechanism of resistance to anthracyclines and vinca alkaloids.

Occurrence of cross-resistance between anthracyclines and vinca alkaloids is the rule in experimental tumors with acquired resistance to these drugs. So far, there is no indication that this phenomenon is due to an intracellular mechanism of action common to the two groups of drugs. In nearly all reported studies, acquired experimental resistance and cross-resistance are related to a decreased cellular accumulation of both types of drugs, although other factors also are involved. In Ehrlich ascites tumors, a number of findings at steady-state conditions indicate that the decreased accumulation is dependent on a cellular mechanism for active outward drug transport, which is common to anthracyclines and vinca alkaloids, but changes in inward transport and intracellular binding capacity also contribute. Similar findings have been reported for resistance and cross-resistance in P388 leukemia. Recent results with counteraction of acquired experimental resistance in animal tumors by inhibition of outward drug transport and studies on the effect of different anthracycline derivatives on accumulation of daunomycin in resistant cells are discussed.

Animals↗

Purification of zymogen to plasminogen activator from human glioblastoma cells by affinity chromatography with monoclonal antibody.

Incorporation of the serine protease active site reagent diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) into a plasminogen activator with an Mr of approximately 52000 released from cultured human glioblastoma cells was strongly enhanced by incubation with plasmin. This observation led to the isolation of an inactive form of the enzyme from serum-free conditioned culture fluid by affinity chromatography on a column of a Sepharose-bound monoclonal antibody raised against urokinase. An 831-fold purification was obtained with a yield of 41%. The purified molecule was homogeneous as evaluated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecyl sulfate (NaDodSO4), having one stainable band under nonreducing as well as reducing conditions with an Mr of approximately 52000. It was unable to activate plasminogen, but catalytic amounts of plasmin converted it into active enzyme. After NaDodSO4-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the active enzyme showed one band under nonreducing conditions, but after reduction, two bands with Mr values of approximately 20000 and 32000 were observed. The active enzyme incorporated [3H]DFP into the approximately Mr 32000 band, while no incorporation was observed into the inactive form. These findings show that the Mr 52000 human plasminogen activator exists in a proenzyme form consisting of a single polypeptide chain that by proteolysis between half-cystine residues is converted into the active enzyme consisting of two chains with molecular weights of approximately 20000 and 32000, the active site being on the latter chain. The results are consistent with the active form of the enzyme being identical with the higher molecular weight form of urokinase, and together with recent observations that a murine plasminogen activator is released from sarcoma virus transformed cells as an inactive proenzyme, they suggest that zymogens to plasminogen activators are of more general occurrence.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Plasminogen activator released as inactive proenzyme from murine cells transformed by sarcoma virus.

We have previously reported the purification of a plasminogen-activating serine protease with an approximate Mr of 48 000 from sarcoma-virus-transformed murine cells. We now report that under serum-free conditions the enzyme is released from the cells in an inactive form. After affinity chromatography with 4-aminobenzamidine-cellulose, ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration, the proenzyme could be obtained from culture fluid as a pure, homogeneous protein as evaluated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecylsulphate. Proenzyme was quantitatively converted to active enzyme by incubation with catalytic amounts of plasmin. Analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecylsulphate under reducing and non-reducing conditions showed that the inactive form consisted of a single polypeptide chain with an Mr of approximately 48 000, while the active form consisted of two chains with Mr values of approximately 18 000 and 29 000 , held together by one or more disulphide bridges. The active-site reagent diisopropylfluorophosphate in radiolabelled form was incorporated into the 29 000-Mr chain of the active enzyme, but not into the inactive form. These findings provide conclusive evidence for the existence of an inactive proenzyme to this plasminogen activator and thus demonstrate and additional step in a cascade-like reaction leading to extracellular proteolysis. Regulatory as well as methodological implications of this findings are discussed.

Animals↗

Monoclonal antibody that specifically inhibits a human Mr 52,000 plasminogen-activating enzyme.

Monoclonal antibodies against a human plasminogen activator of M(r) approximately 52,000 (HPA52) were derived by immunization of mice with an impure preparation of the enzyme (urokinase), subsequent hybridization of spleen cells with NSI-Ag4/1 myeloma cells, and cloning of the hybridomas. Selection of mice for hybridization and screening of hybridomas were based solely on direct inhibition of an enzymatic assay of the plasminogen activator with the impure enzyme preparation. A cloned hybridoma produced IgG1 antibodies that bound to and inhibited the enzymatic activity of HPA52 irrespective of whether the HPA52 was derived from urokinase or from human glioblastoma cells, whereas there was no inhibition of or binding to a plasminogen activator of M(r) approximately 70,000 from human melanoma cells or a plasminogen activator of M(r) approximately 36,000 that is a degradation product of HPA52 and present in urokinase. Nor did the anti-HPA52 IgG1 inhibit a murine plasminogen activator of M(r) approximately 48,000 derived from sarcoma virus-transformed cells. By using affinity chromatography with columns of anti-HPA52 IgG1 bound to Sepharose, HPA52 was purified from urokinase to homogeneity as evaluated by NaDodSO(4)/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This study demonstrates that inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against enzymes can be derived with the sole use of impure enzyme preparations and shows how such antibodies subsequently can be used for enzyme purification.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Plasminogen activating enzyme in cultured glioblastoma cells. An immunofluorescence study with monoclonal antibody.

A monoclonal antibody against a 52,000 dalton human plasminogen activating enzyme (HPA52) was used for immunofluorescence staining of cultured glioblastoma cells. The fluorescence was located in the cytoplasm of the cells. A pronounced variation in the staining intensity was observed between the individual cells. The specificity of the fluorescent stain was supported by the findings that 1) no staining was obtained with a monoclonal antibody of the same subclass, but with irrelevant specificity (anti-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl); 2) adsorption with HPA52 purified to homogeneity removed the ability of anti-HPA52 to mediate staining; 3) the glioblastoma cells contained HPA52, as measured by enzymatic assay, while melanoma cells that were not stained did not contain HPA52 activity; 4) dexamethasone reduced both the enzymatically determined HPA52 content and the immunofluorescence in parallel, while progesterone affected none of these parameters; 5) we have previously found that culture fluid conditioned by the glioblastoma cells apart from HPA52 does not contain detectable amounts of any protein that binds to anti-HPA52. Several advantages of immunohistochemical detection of plasminogen activators compared with enzyme histochemical methods are discussed, among these that the immunohistochemical method distinguishes between plasminogen activators of different types.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗