In vitro fibrinolysis and antithrombosis characterizations of novel recombinant microplasminogen with RGD and GPRP peptides

Microplasminogen (μPlg), a truncated form of human plasminogen, has considerable potential as a direct-acting thrombolytic agent. To further develop μPlg into a thrombolytic agent with anti-thrombus properties, we constructed two μPlg variants containing tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) and tetrapeptide Gly-Pro-Arg-Pro (GPRP) by site-directed mutagenesis. The recombinant cDNAs were expressed in yeast (Pichia pastoris) and purified to high homogeneity by Ni–NTA affinity chromatography. The specific activities of RGD-μPlg and GPRP-μPlg were 7.7 and 13.3 U/mg, respectively, as determined using the fibrin-plate method. RGD-μPlg significantly inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation, which was 33.6- and 14.1-fold higher than the native μPlg and GPRP-μPlg, respectively. On the other hand, GPRP-μPlg prolonged thrombin-initialized fibrinogen polymerization in a concentration-dependent manner, which was 9.2- and 5.7-fold stronger than μPlg and RGD-μPlg, respectively. Under activation by urokinase, μPlg, RGD-μPlg, and GPRP-μPlg all showed over 80 % conversions to their active enzyme in 24 h. The structure models that docked RGD-μPlg and μPlg activation loops into the enzymatic active site of urokinase showed that Pro559 to Asp559 mutation of RGD-μPlg led to an alteration in the interaction, which possibly explains the slowed activation of RGD-μPlg by urokinase over an 80-min period. In conclusion, this study has presented two recombinant μPlg variants with anti-platelet aggregation and anti-fibrinogen clotting activity, thus suggesting the anti-thrombosis properties of these two μPlg derivatives.