Inhibitory properties of a novel human Kunitz-type protease inhibitor homologous to tissue factor pathway inhibitor.

In a previous report, we described the molecular cloning, expression, and partial characterization of a second human tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), which we designated as TFPI-2 [Sprecher, C. A., et al. (1994) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91, 3353-3357]. Recombinant TFPI-2 inhibited the amidolytic activity of trypsin as well as that of factor VIIa in complex with tissue factor. TFPI-2 recently has been shown to be identical to placental protein 5 (PP5), a glycoprotein originally isolated from placenta that exhibits serine protease inhibitory activity. In the present study, we have examined TFPI-2/PP5 for its ability to inhibit a number of serine proteases involved in blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, inasmuch as TFPI-2/PP5 prolonged the coagulation time of human plasma induced by either tissue factor or contact activation in a dose-dependent manner. In addition to its ability to inhibit the amidolytic and proteolytic activities of the factor VIIa-tissue factor complex, TFPI-2/PP5 strongly inhibited the amidolytic activities of human factor XIa, human plasma kallikrein, and human plasmin with Ki values of 15, 25, and 3 nM, respectively. TFPI-2/PP5 was also a weak inhibitor of the activation of factor X by a complex of human factor IXa and poly(lysine) with an apparent Ki of 410 nM. Heparin markedly enhanced the ability of TFPI-2/PP5 to inhibit factor VIIa-tissue factor both in the solution phase and on cell surfaces. In addition, heparin augmented the inhibition of human factor Xa amidolytic activity at relatively high levels (10-100 nM) of TFPI-2/PP5. No significant inhibition of glandular kallikrein, urinary plasminogen activator, tissue plasminogen activator, human activated protein C, human factor Xa, human thrombin, or leukocyte elastase was observed when these proteases were incubated with TFPI-2 in the absence of heparin.