The fibrin(ogen)olytic properties of cathepsin D.

Fibrin(ogen) is important for hemostasis and is cleared from sites of vascular injury primarily by the plasminogen activator system. However, there is emerging evidence in plasminogen activator-deficient transgenic mice that non-plasmin pathways may also be important for endogenous fibrinolysis. We have recently described an alternative, plasmin-independent fibrinolytic pathway in activated human monocytes that utilizes the integrin Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18), which directly binds and internalizes fibrin, resulting in its lysosomal degradation. The identity of the lysosomal fibrinolytic enzyme(s) responsible for monocyte/macrophage-mediated fibrinolytic is unknown. Protease inhibitor studies now suggest that an aspartyl protease is responsible for this fibrinolytic activity. We, therefore, examined the fibrinolytic properties of cathepsin D, a lysosomal aspartyl protease, and report that cathepsin D possesses both fibrinogenolytic and fibrinolytic activity. Cathepsin D cleavage of fibrinogen follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a Michaelis constant, Km, of 1.5 microM; catalytic rate constant, kcat, of 1.4 x 10(-3) s-1; and catalytic efficiency, kcat/Km, of 9.3 x 10(-4) microM-1 s-1. A pH-activity profile of fibrinogen digestion by cathepsin D demonstrates a pH optimum of 3.5 with 50% residual activity at pH 5.0. Fibrinolysis was assessed by fibrin plate and fibrin clot lysis assays. Cathepsin D possesses significant fibrinolytic activity over a dose range of 100 nM to 10 microM and is able to lyse fibrin, as well as albumin-enriched and albumin/red cell-enriched fibrin clots. Cathepsin D cleaves the alpha-, beta-, and gamma-chains of FGN, generating multiple low-molecular-weight fragments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)