Kinetics of inhibition of human plasma kallikrein by a site-specific modified inhibitor Arg15-aprotinin: evaluation using a microplate system and comparison with other proteases

Human plasma kallikrein, a product of contact-activated plasma proteolysis, is moderately inhibited by aprotinin, a small polypeptide from bovine lung that has been used as an experimental drug in human disease states. Aprotinin has a Lys residue in the P1 (reactive center) position occupying residue 15. Since kallikrein is an arginine-directed serine protease, we hypothesized that an altered form of aprotinin, Arg15-aprotinin, might be a better inhibitor. Kinetic evaluations were performed in 96-well microplates. We found that the KL (loose or Michaelis-Menten complex) was unchanged by the modification. However, the association rate constant was increased from 1.14 X 10(4) (mol/L)-1s-1 to 1.5 X 10(5) (mol/L)-1s1, thus indicating that the inhibition rate was increased 14-fold for the modified protein. The Ki (at equilibrium) was decreased from 3.2 X 10(-7) mol/L to 1.5 X 10(-8) mol/L after substituting Arg for Lys in the P1 position. Therefore, the modified inhibitor binds to plasma kallikrein more tightly than the natural protein. We also investigated the effect of Arg15-aprotinin on tissue kallikrein, plasmin, factor XIIa, factor XIa, and thrombin and found that the Ki slightly decreased from 5.1 X 10(-7) mol/L to 1.2 X 10(-7) mol/L for tissue kallikrein and slightly decreased from 2 X 10(-8) mol/L to 1 X 10(-8) mol/L for plasmin. Arg15-aprotinin did not inhibit thrombin or factor XIIa, even though both enzymes are arginine-directed serine proteases. However, factor XIa, although it was not inhibited by aprotinin, had a Ki of 3.4 X 10(-8) mol/L for Arg15-aprotinin. Therefore, Arg15-aprotinin is a more effective inhibitor of plasma kallikrein as well as factor XIa but shows minimal preference for plasmin and tissue kallikrein. This study also indicates that it is possible and practical to perform kinetic analyses directly in microplates.