Characterization and purification of a protease in serum that cleaves proatrial natriuretic factor (ProANF) to its circulating forms

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Abstract
Atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) is synthesized and stored in atrial cardiocytes as a 17-kilodalton (kDa), 126 amino acid polypeptide, proANF, but circulates as smaller, 24 and 28 amino acid peptide fragments of the carboxy terminus of proANF. It has previously been shown that proANF is secreted intact from cultured atrial cardiocytes and can be cleaved by a serum protease to smaller, 3-kDa peptides believed to be the circulating forms. This report describes the purification and characterization of this proANF-cleaving protease from rat serum. The cleavages both of 35S-labeled proANF derived from rat atrial cell cultures, as assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)/autoradiography, and of a synthetic p-nitroanilide-containing substrate were used as assays for the detection of enzyme activity. ProANF-cleaving activity was found in rat serum, with no such activity detectable in rat plasma. Cleavage in serum was not dependent on the presence of platelets or other cellular elements. Complete inhibition of proANF cleavage was obtained with the protease inhibitors benzamidine, leupeptin, phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride, and diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) but not with aprotinin, soybean trypsin inhibitor, pepstatin, or hirudin. Unlike the vitamin K dependent plasma proteins, the proANF-cleaving protease did not adsorb to barium sulfate. With the sequential application of ion-exchange, hydroxylapatite, lectin affinity, and gel filtration chromatography, a 5000.sbd.6000-fold purification of the enzyme from rat serum was achieved. Fractionation of either whole serum or the purified enzyme by gel filtration chromatography revealed a single peak of activity corresponding to a protein with a Stokes radius of 45 .ANG.. The pI of the enzyme was found to be approximately 5.6. Incubation of the purified enzyme with [3H]DFP followed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography revealed a specifically labeled 38-kDa peptide, the substrate binding subunit. Analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography of the 3-kDa products resulting from the cleavage of 35S-labeled proANF by the purified enzyme revealed, as previously described with whole serum, two radiolabeled peptides which coeluted with the 28 and 24 amino acid C-terminal preptides. Moreover, a time-dependent increase in the abundance of the latter peptide was found. These observations imply a precursor-product relationship, with the initial cleavage of proANF to the 28 amino acid peptide, which is then cleaved to the 24 amino acid peptide. These studies indicate that the majority of proANF cleavage activity found in rat serum is represented by that of a distinct serine protease whose properties are different from a variety of well-characterized proteases, such as kallikrein, plasmin, and the vitamin K dependent plasma proteins. The role of this protease in the in vivo processing of proANF remains to be defined.

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