fondaparinux and phosphomannopentaose-sulfate

The role that heparanase plays during metastasis and angiogenesis in tumors makes it an attractive target for cancer therapeutics. Despite this enzyme's significance, most of the assays developed to measure its activity are complex. Moreover, they usually rely on labeling variable preparations of the natural substrate heparan sulfate, making comparisons across studies precarious. To overcome these problems, we have developed a convenient assay based on the cleavage of the synthetic heparin oligosaccharide fondaparinux. The assay measures the appearance of the disaccharide product of heparanase-catalyzed fondaparinux cleavage colorimetrically using the tetrazolium salt WST-1. Because this assay has a homogeneous substrate with a single point of cleavage, the kinetics of the enzyme can be reliably characterized, giving a K(m) of 46 microM and a k(cat) of 3.5 s(-1) with fondaparinux as substrate. The inhibition of heparanase by the published inhibitor, PI-88, was also studied, and a K(i) of 7.9 nM was determined. The simplicity and robustness of this method, should, not only greatly assist routine assay of heparanase activity but also could be adapted for high-throughput screening of compound libraries, with the data generated being directly comparable across studies.

Topics: Colorimetry; Enzyme Assays; Enzyme Inhibitors; Fondaparinux; Glucuronidase; Humans; Kinetics; Oligosaccharides; Polysaccharides; Reducing Agents; Time Factors

1. The heparan sulphate proteoglycan glypican-1 is a major high-affinity ligand of the Slit proteins. 2. Messenger RNA for both Slit-2 and glypican-1 is strongly upregulated and coexpressed in the reactive astrocytes of injured adult brain, suggesting a possible function of Slit proteins and glypican-1 in the adult central nervous system as significant components of the inhibitory environment that prevents axonal regeneration after injury. 3. Based on the hypothesis that adverse effects on axonal regeneration may be due to a glypican-Slit complex or the retention of glypican-binding C-terminal proteolytic processing fragments of Slit at the injury site, we used ELISA to examine a number of small molecules and low molecular weight heparin analogues for their ability to inhibit glypican-Slit interactions. 4. Our studies have led to the identification of several potent inhibitors with a favourable therapeutic profile that can now be tested in a spinal cord injury model. Among the most promising of these are a low molecular weight heparin produced by periodate oxidation and having no significant anticoagulant activity, the chemically sulphonated yeast-derived phosphomannan PI-88 and a number of randomly derivatized water-soluble sulphated dextrans.

Topics: Anticoagulants; Dalteparin; Dextran Sulfate; Drug Design; Enoxaparin; Fondaparinux; Glycoproteins; Glypicans; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight; Humans; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Ligands; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Oligosaccharides; Osmolar Concentration; Oxidation-Reduction; Periodic Acid; Polysaccharides; Protein Binding; Protein Isoforms; Recombinant Fusion Proteins; Spinal Cord Injuries