Monoclonal antibodies detect receptor-induced binding sites in Glu-plasminogen

Blood. 2011 Aug 11;118(6):1653-62. doi: 10.1182/blood-2010-11-316943. Epub 2011 Jun 16.

Abstract

When Glu-plasminogen binds to cells, its activation to plasmin is markedly enhanced compared with the reaction in solution, suggesting that Glu-plasminogen on cell surfaces adopts a conformation distinct from that in solution. However, direct evidence for such conformational changes has not been obtained. Therefore, we developed anti-plasminogen mAbs to test the hypothesis that Glu-plasminogen undergoes conformational changes on its interaction with cells. Six anti-plasminogen mAbs (recognizing 3 distinct epitopes) that preferentially recognized receptor-induced binding sites (RIBS) in Glu-plasminogen were obtained. The mAbs also preferentially recognized Glu-plasminogen bound to the C-terminal peptide of the plasminogen receptor, Plg-R(KT), and to fibrin, plasmin-treated fibrinogen, and Matrigel. We used trypsin proteolysis, immunoaffinity chromatography, and tandem mass spectrometry and identified Glu-plasminogen sequences containing epitopes recognized by the anti-plasminogen-RIBS mAbs: a linear epitope within a domain linking kringles 1 and 2; a nonlinear epitope contained within the kringle 5 domain and the latent protease domain; and a nonlinear epitope contained within the N-terminal peptide of Glu-plasminogen and the latent protease domain. Our results identify neoepitopes latent in soluble Glu-plasminogen that become available when Glu-plasminogen binds to cells and demonstrate that binding of Glu-plasminogen to cells induces a conformational change in Glu-plasminogen distinct from that of Lys-Pg.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / metabolism*
  • Binding Sites
  • Blotting, Western
  • Collagen / immunology
  • Collagen / metabolism
  • Drug Combinations
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • Epitopes / metabolism*
  • Fibrin / immunology
  • Fibrin / metabolism
  • Fibrinogen / immunology
  • Fibrinogen / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Kringles
  • Laminin / immunology
  • Laminin / metabolism
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology
  • Peptide Fragments / metabolism
  • Plasminogen / chemistry
  • Plasminogen / immunology
  • Plasminogen / metabolism*
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • Proteoglycans / immunology
  • Proteoglycans / metabolism
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / chemistry
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / immunology
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / metabolism*
  • Solubility
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • U937 Cells

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Drug Combinations
  • Epitopes
  • Laminin
  • PLGRKT protein, human
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Proteoglycans
  • Receptors, Cell Surface
  • matrigel
  • Fibrin
  • Fibrinogen
  • Plasminogen
  • Collagen