Lys and Fibrinogen Binding of Wild-Type (Trp72) and Mutant (Arg72) Human Apo(a) Kringle IV-10 Expressed in E coli and CHO Cells

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Abstract
In a previous study, we identified a lysine (Lys)-binding–defective form of human lipoprotein(a) and attributed this defect to the presence of a Trp72→Arg mutation in apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)] kringle IV-10. To document this relationship, we expressed both wild-type (wt) and mutant (mut) forms of kringle IV-10 in Escherichia coli (nonglycosylated form) and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells (glycosylated form). The Arg72 mut was prepared by introducing the T→A mutation in apo(a) kringle IV-10 amplified from human liver mRNA by the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique. All expressed kringles were tested for their ability to bind Lys and plasmin-modified fibrinogen (PM-fibrinogen). wt kringle IV-10 expressed in both E coli and CHO cells bound to Lys-Sepharose with comparable affinity. In contrast, the Arg72 mut expressed in both systems exhibited no Lys-binding capacity. Moreover, the wt kringle IV-10 expressed in both systems bound to PM-fibrinogen and exhibited two binding components, one Lys mediated (inhibitable by ε-amino- n -caproic acid) and one Lys insensitive, occurring in about the same proportions. Only the latter type of binding was present in the Arg72 mut expressed in E coli. We conclude that kringle IV-10 of human apo(a) has Lys-and PM-fibrinogen–binding capacities that are independent of glycosylation and require the presence of Trp72, one of the seven amino acids that constitute the Lys-binding site of kringle IV-10. Our results also show that the binding of kringle IV-10 to PM-fibrinogen is more complex than that to Lys, in that the former requires an additional binding site or sites outside the Lys-binding site.