On the specific interaction between the lysine-binding sites in plasmin and complementary sites in alpha2-antiplasmin and in fibrinogen

Abstract

Plasminogen and plasminogen derivatives which contain lysine-binding sites were found to decrease the reaction rate between plasmin and alpha2-antiplasmin by competing with plasmin for the complementary site(s) in alpha2-antiplasmin. The dissocwation constant Kd for the interaction between intact plasminogen (Glu-plasminogen) and alpha2-antiplasmin is 4.0 microM but those for Lys-plasminogen or TLCK-plasmin are about 10-fold lower indicating a stronger interaction. The lysine-binding site(s) which is situated in triple-loops 1--3 in the plasmin A-chain is mainly responsible for the interaction with alpha2-antiplasmin. The interaction between Glu-plasminogen and alpha2-antiplasmin furthermore enhances the activation of Glu-plasminogen by urokinase to a comparable extent as 6-aminohexanoic acid, suggesting that similar conformational changes occur in the proenzyme after complex formation. Fibrinogen, fibrinogen digested with plasmin, purified fragment E and purified fragment D interfere with the reaction between plasmin and alpha2-antiplasmin by competing with alpha2-antiplasmin for the lysine-binding site(s) in the plasmin A-chain. The Kd obtained for these interactions varied between 0.2 microM and 1.4 microM; fragment E being the most effective. Thus the fibrinogen molecule contains several complementary sites to the lysine-binding sites located both in its NH2-terminal and COOH-terminal regions; these sites are to a large extent.