Novel antibody against a glutamic acid-rich human fibrinogen-like protein 2-derived peptide near Ser91 inhibits hfgl2 prothrombinase activity

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 11;9(4):e94551. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094551. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Fibrinogen-like protein 2 (fgl2) is highly expressed in microvascular endothelial cells in diseases associated with microcirculatory disturbances and plays a crucial role in microthrombosis. Previous studies have demonstrated that the Ser89 residue is a critical site for mouse fgl2 prothrombinase activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the prothrombinase inhibitory ability of antibodies against an hfgl2-derived peptide. The peptide was termed NPG-12 because it is located at the N-terminus of membrane-bound hfgl2, contains 12 amino acid residues (corresponding to residues 76 to 87), and is rich in Glu. This peptide was selected as an antigenic determinant to produce antibodies in immunized rabbits using the DNAStar and HomoloGene software program. Abundant hfgl2 expression was induced in human umbilical vein endothelial cells through treatment with TNF-α. The generated anti-NPG-12 antibodies specifically recognize fgl2, as determined by ELISA, Western Blot and immunostaining. Moreover, one-stage clotting and thrombin generation tests provide evidence that the antibodies can reduce the hfgl2 prothrombinase activity without affecting the platelet-poor plasma prothrombin time (PT) or the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). In addition, the antibodies exerted undetectable influence on the proliferation or activation of bulk T cell populations. In conclusion, the selected peptide sequence NPG-12 may be a critical domain for hfgl2 prothrombinase activity, and the development of inhibitors against this sequence may be promising for research or management of hfgl2-associated microcirculatory disturbances.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibodies / pharmacology*
  • Antibody Specificity / drug effects
  • Antibody Specificity / immunology
  • Cell Polarity / drug effects
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Fibrinogen / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Fibrinogen / chemistry
  • Fibrinogen / immunology*
  • Glutamic Acid / immunology*
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
  • Humans
  • Lymphocyte Activation / drug effects
  • Male
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Partial Thromboplastin Time
  • Peptides / chemistry
  • Peptides / immunology*
  • Prothrombin Time
  • Rabbits
  • Serine / metabolism*
  • T-Lymphocytes / cytology
  • T-Lymphocytes / drug effects
  • Thromboplastin / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Thromboplastin / metabolism

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • FGL2 protein, human
  • Peptides
  • Glutamic Acid
  • Serine
  • Fibrinogen
  • Thromboplastin

Grants and funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81270267) and the Key Program for Scientific and Technological Innovation of Wuhan (No. 201161038340-08). http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/Portal0/default152.htm; http://www.whst.gov.cn/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.