Identification of soluble type of membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase-3 formed by alternatively spliced mRNA.

Homology screening for human membrane-type MMP (MT-MMP) was carried out, and cDNA encoding a soluble type of MT3-MMP (SM3), which is considered to be an alternatively spliced variant of MT3-MMP, was obtained. SM3 had a novel sequence consisting of 50 amino acids after Lys407 instead of amino acids containing the transmembrane domain of MT3-MMP. When SM3 tagged with a FLAG epitope (SM3-flag) was expressed in COS-7 cells, SM3-flag was present in the conditioned medium in its activated form. The enzymatic activity of SM3 was studied using a recombinant enzyme expressed in E. coli (SM3-e). The fluorogenic peptide substrate hydrolyzing activity of SM3-e was inhibited by EDTA and by the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2), whereas TIMP-1 had only relatively weak inhibitory ability. SM3-e was able to activate proMMP-2, and this activity was also inhibited by TIMP-2 but not by TIMP-1. SM3-e was able to cleave type III collagen, and also digested fibronectin. In view of the homology of the primary structures, MT3-MMP was considered to have the same catalytic activity as SM3. The results of studies of SM3's activity on extracellular matrix (ECM) protein suggests that MT3-MMP plays a role in ECM turnover not only by activating proMMP-2 but also by acting directly on ECM macromolecules.