Enzymatic synthesis of hyaluronan hybrid urinary trypsin inhibitor

A Chondroitin Sulfate Chain of Urinary Trypsin Inhibitor Enhances Protease Inhibitory Activity of the Core Protein

Human urinary trypsin inhibitor (UTI) is a proteoglycan composed of one core protein covalently linked to one glycosaminoglycan, which is a low sulfated chondroitin 4-sulfate. It is used as an anti-inflammatory medicine based on the protease inhibitory activity of the core protein. However, functions of the chondroitin sulfate have not been clarified. Recently, we succeeded in remodeling the UTI chondroitin sulfate to hyaluronan to create hyaluronan hybrid UTI, without changing the core protein. Here, we investigated the effect of the remodeled chondroitin sulfate on the activities of serine proteases. Native UTI showed stronger protease inhibitory activity than hyaluronan hybrid UTI or hydrolyzed glycosaminoglycan UTI. Chondroitin 4-sulfate chains with a small peptide derived from the native UTI did not show any protease inhibitory activity. These results suggest that the chondroitin sulfate chain linked covalently to core protein enhances protease inhibitor activity of UTI although the chondroitin sulfate chain itself does not.

Essential hyaluronan structure for binding with hyaluronan-binding protein (HABP) determined by glycotechnological approach

Hyaluronan specifically binds to aggrecan globular domain 1, which is often referred to as just hyaluronan binding protein (HABP), however, the hyaluronan carbohydrate structure recognized by HABP had not been studied in detail. The aim of the present study was to investigate the important structure of hyaluronan for binding to HABP. We prepared hybrid oligosaccharides from hyaluronan and chondroitin, with or without modification of the reducing or non-reducing terminus, as tools to determine the preferred structure of hyaluronan for binding to the HABP by a competitive ELISA-like method. The non-reducing terminal structure was critical, especially, the glucuronic acid (GlcUA) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) of the hyaluronan-unit are essential for complete HABP binding activity, and for any HABP binding activity, respectively. It is possible to replace GlcUAβ-1-3GlcNAc of the internal disaccharide units with GlcUAβ-1-3N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc), if the chain length is decasaccharide or larger.

Dermatan sulfate oligosaccharides having reducing end 2, 5-anhydro-d-talose inhibit bovine testicular hyaluronidase activity

Dermatan sulfate oligosaccharides having reducing end 2,5-anhydro-d-talose were prepared by partial N-deacetylation of dermatan sulfate polysaccharide with hydrazine followed by deamination with nitrous acid, and the effect of these oligosaccharides on the activity of bovine testicular hyaluronidase was investigated. Hydrolysis activity and transglycosylation activity of this enzyme were assessed in an independent reaction system by analyzing the products by HPLC. Dermatan sulfate oligosaccharides inhibited hyaluronan hydrolysis by bovine testicular hyaluronidase. Kinetic analysis of the hydrolysis reaction revealed that the inhibition mode by dermatan sulfate oligosaccharides was as competitive as that previously shown by chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides. Transglycosylation of hyaluronan by bovine testicular hyaluronidase, as a reverse reaction of hydrolysis of hyaluronan, was also inhibited. These inhibitory effects were dependent on the dose and sulfation degree of dermatan sulfate.