Anti-integrase abzymes from the sera of HIV-infected patients specifically hydrolyze integrase but nonspecifically cleave short oligopeptides.

In contrast to canonical proteases, total immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies (Abs) from HIV-infected patients hydrolyze effectively only HIV integrase (IN), reverse transcriptase (RT), human casein, and serum albumin. Anti-IN IgG and IgM isolated by chromatography on IN-Sepharose hydrolyze specifically only IN but not many other tested proteins. Total Abs from HIV-infected patients hydrolyze not only globular proteins but also different specific and nonspecific tri-, tetra-, and 20- to 25-mer oligopeptides (OPs) with a higher rate than anti-IN Abs isolated using IN-Sepharose. A similar situation was observed for IgG from patients with multiple sclerosis and HIV-infected patients, which after purification on myelin basic protein (MBP)-Sepharose and RT-Sepharose specifically hydrolyze only MBP and RT, respectively. The active sites of all anti-protein abzymes are localized on their light chains, whereas the heavy chain is responsible for the affinity of protein substrates. Interactions of intact globular proteins with both light and heavy chains of abzymes provide the specificity of protein hydrolysis. The affinity of anti-IN and anti-MBP abzymes for intact IN and MBP is approximately 10(2)- to 10(5)-fold higher than for short and long specific and nonspecific OPs. The data suggest that all OPs interact mainly with the light chain of different Abs, which possesses a lower affinity for substrates, and therefore, depending on the OP sequences, their hydrolysis may be less specific or completely nonspecific. The data indicate that the relative activity of Abs not fractionated on specific protein sorbents in the hydrolysis of specific and nonspecific OPs can correspond to an average proteolytic activity of light chains of polyclonal Abs directed against many different proteins.