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Isolation and characterization of human membrane carboxypeptidase (HMCP)

Conference · · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)
OSTI ID:7164000

The authors detected a membrane-bound carboxypeptidase in human placenta and other tissues which cleaves C-terminal Lys or Arg of peptides such as Lys/sup 6/-Met/sup 5/-enkephalin. The enzyme was solubilized from placental microvilli with 0.8% CHAPS and purified 427-fold by ion-exchange chromatography, Sepharose-arginine affinity chromatography, chromatofocusing and gel filtration on HPLC. HMCP had a mol. wt. of 67,000 in SDS-PAGE and 65,300 in gel filtration and a pH optimum of 7.0. HMCP cleaved Bz-Gly-argininic acid the fastest (90 ..mu..mol/min/mg) followed by Bz-Ala-Lys (41), Bz-Phe-Lys (26), Bz-Gly-Arg (1.7) and Bz-Gly-Lys (1.6). Activity was stimulated by CoCl/sub 2/ and inhibited by cadmium acet., o-phenanthroline and 2-mercaptomethyl-3-guanidinoethylthiopropanoic acid but not by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, aprotinin or p-chloromercuriphenylsulfonate. The enzyme was stable for 1 hr at room temp. at pH 4.25, but lost 31% activity at pH 4.0. HMCP did not react with antiserum to human plasma carboxypeptidase N in Western blotting. This study shows that human placental microvilli contain a membrane carboxypeptidase, that differs from other carboxypeptidases, and cleaves C-terminal basic amino acids from peptides. This enzyme could be involved in regulating the level of peptide hormones in the placenta and other tissues.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago
OSTI ID:
7164000
Report Number(s):
CONF-8604222-
Journal Information:
Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States), Journal Name: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States) Vol. 45:4; ISSN FEPRA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English