Autoprocessing of neutrophil elastase near its active site reduces the efficiency of natural and synthetic elastase inhibitors

T. Dau, R. S. J. Sarker, A. O. Yildirim, O. Eickelberg and D. E. Jenne ()
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T. Dau: Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD), University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)
R. S. J. Sarker: Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD), University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)
A. O. Yildirim: Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD), University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)
O. Eickelberg: Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD), University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)
D. E. Jenne: Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Institute of Lung Biology and Disease (iLBD), University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract An imbalance between neutrophil-derived proteases and extracellular inhibitors is widely regarded as an important pathogenic mechanism for lung injury. Despite intense efforts over the last three decades, attempts to develop small-molecule inhibitors for neutrophil elastase have failed in the clinic. Here we discover an intrinsic self-cleaving property of mouse neutrophil elastase that interferes with the action of elastase inhibitors. We show that conversion of the single-chain (sc) into a two-chain (tc) neutrophil elastase by self-cleavage near its S1 pocket altered substrate activity and impaired both inhibition by endogenous α-1-antitrypsin and synthetic small molecules. Our data indicate that autoconversion of neutrophil elastase decreases the inhibitory efficacy of natural α-1-antitrypsin and small-molecule inhibitors, while retaining its pathological potential in an experimental mouse model. The so-far overlooked occurrence and properties of a naturally occurring tc-form of neutrophil elastase necessitates the redesign of small-molecule inhibitors that target the sc-form as well as the tc-form of neutrophil elastase.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7722

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