lactoferrin and arginyl-glycyl-aspartyl-serine

In this study, the effect of (Boc-Lys (Boc)-Arg-Asp-Ser (tBu)-OtBu), a tetrapeptide derivative (PEP1261) was examined for antiproliferative potency and apoptotic induction. Synovial fibroblasts were isolated from collagen-induced arthritic (CIA) rats and exposed to peptides viz., PEP1261, and parental peptides (KRDS and RGDS). Viability of the cells decreased in the presence of PEP1261 at a lower concentration (0.1 mM) when compared to RGDS and KRDS (1 mM). The treatment of cells with peptides showed induction of apoptosis, resulting in the cleavage of caspase-3 as well as its substrate poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Pretreatment of cells with caspase-3 inhibitor prevented inhibition of [(3)H] thymidine incorporation, DNA fragmentation, and cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP as confirmed by western blotting as well as annexin-V/PI-staining using flow cytometry. However, caspase-1 and caspase-2 inhibitors did not prevent the peptides from inducing apoptosis indicating that caspase-3 might have a role in the process of apoptosis induced by peptides. Treatment of synovial fibroblasts with nitric oxide donor, S-nitroso-N-acetyl-DL: -penicillamine (SNAP) (500 microM) showed significant elevation of nitric oxide levels and resulted in absence of apoptosis by preventing the inhibition of [(3)H] thymidine incorporation. This was further evidenced by annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining and absence of DNA fragmentation, intra cellular caspase-3 activity and PARP cleavage. In contrast, SNAP followed by PEP1261 and parental peptides-induced apoptosis by lowering the levels of nitric oxide. These results suggested that PEP1261 suppressed the proliferation and induced apoptosis in cultured synovial fibroblasts from CIA rats. This study also confirmed that PEP1261 inhibited nitric oxide level in cultured synovial fibroblasts.

Topics: Animals; Annexin A5; Apoptosis; Arthritis; Caspase 3; Caspases; Cell Proliferation; Cells, Cultured; Collagen Type II; Enzyme Activation; Fibroblasts; Lactoferrin; Male; Nitric Oxide; Oligopeptides; Peptide Fragments; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; Protein Binding; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Synovial Fluid

KRDS (Lys-Arg-Asp-Ser), a tetrapeptide from human lactotransferrin, was tested in vitro on human platelet function, and its effects were compared to those of RGDS, a tetrapeptide from human fibrinogen. Both peptides had a high probability of initiating a beta-turn and were highly hydrophilic. KRDS inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation [median inhibitory concentration (IC50) 350 microM] and fibrinogen binding (IC50 360 microM) to a lesser extent than RGDS (IC50 75 microM and 20 microM, respectively). Different from RGDS, thrombin-induced serotonin release was inhibited by KRDS (750 microM) on normal platelets (55 +/- 10%) and type I Glanzmann's thrombasthenia platelets (43% +/- 1). However, KRDS had no effect on cytoplasmic Ca2+ mobilization, inositol phospholipid metabolism or protein phosphorylation (myosin light chain P20 and P43). In contrast to RGDS, KRDS does not inhibit the binding of monoclonal antibody PAC-1 to activated platelets. KRDS and RGDS inhibited 4 beta-phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-induced aggregation and fibrinogen binding, while proteins were normally phosphorylated. Thus, the tetrapeptide KRDS is (a) an inhibitor of serotonin release by a mechanism independent of protein phosphorylation and (b) an inhibitor of fibrinogen binding and, hence, aggregation by a mechanism that may not necessarily involve its direct binding to the glycoprotein IIb-IIIa-complex.

Topics: Adenosine Diphosphate; Amino Acid Sequence; Antibodies, Monoclonal; Blood Platelets; Calcium; Fibrinogen; In Vitro Techniques; Lactoferrin; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligopeptides; Peptide Fragments; Phosphatidylinositols; Phosphoproteins; Phosphorylation; Platelet Aggregation; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins; Protein Conformation; Serotonin; Signal Transduction; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Thrombin

Due to the functional homologies between milk and plasma coagulations and the molecular homologies between a plasma protein (human gamma-chain fibrinogen) and a milk protein (Kappa-casein), we thought to characterize a RGDS sequence in milk proteins. A KRDS sequence theoretically analogous to RGDS was found in human lactotransferrin. This study compares in 2 species (rat and guinea-pig) in vitro (on platelet aggregation) and in vivo (in an experimental model of arteriolar thrombosis), relative to RGDS, the effects of KRDS and of a modified sequence KRDR. In vitro, in the rat, while RGDS and KRDR did not affect significantly the platelet aggregation induced by ADP, KRDS had a significant inhibitory effect; on the guinea-pig platelets, KRDS and RGDS had an inhibitory effect of similar magnitude, and KRDR, a minimal effect. In vivo and in the two species, KRDS and RGDS had an antithrombotic activity much more pronounced than KRDR. Additionally, when KRDS and RGDS were studied together in vitro, no more than additive effect could be noticed in the guinea-pig. But in vivo, in the guinea-pig and even more pronounced in the rat, a potentiating activity was evidenced. These results indicate that KRDS, a peptide present in the human lactotransferrin sequence, has, in vitro, an anti-platelet activity and, in vivo, an anti-thrombotic activity. The mechanism of action is probably different from that of RGDS and is specific of the sequence since a similar KRDR sequence loses most of these actions.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Fibrinolytic Agents; Guinea Pigs; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Lactoferrin; Lactoglobulins; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligopeptides; Peptide Fragments; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors; Rats