We used recombinant DNA technology to construct a mutant form of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) called cysPE35 that contains amino acids 280-364 and 381-613 of PE. cysPE35 begins at the native PE proteolytic cleavage site and contains a single cysteine residue at position 287 that can be used to conjugate the toxin to monocional antibodies (MAbs). Unlike immunotoxins containing larger mutant forms...

The plasminogen/plasmin system is involved in a variety of normal physiological and pathological processes, including tissue remodelling, angiogenesis and tumour metastasis. Plasminogen activators and receptors for plasminogen/plasminogen activators are essential for the processing of plasminogen to form the active serine protease plasmin. Plasmin can in turn positively or negatively regulate f...

Proteolytic cleavage of the Hendra virus fusion (F) protein results in the formation of disulfide-linked F1 and F2 subunits, with cleavage occurring after residue K109 in the sequence GDVK/L. This unusual cleavage site and efficient propagation of Hendra virus in a furin-deficient cell line indicate that the Hendra F protein is not cleaved by furin, the protease responsible for proteolytic acti...

T issue factor (TF) is the principal initiator of blood clotting in response to vascular injury and in thrombotic disease (1). TF, an integral membrane protein, is normally excluded from the vascular compartment. Coagulation is initiated when TF is exposed to zymogen coagulation proteases in plasma upon vascular damage. TF first binds factor VII, supporting both its activation to VIIa and activ...

The amino acid sequence and structure of a uterotonic polypeptide extracted from the African plant Oldenlandia affinis DC have been determined. The peptide, kalata B1, consists of 29 amino acid residues and is rich in cysteine (6), threonine (5), and glycine (5). Enzyme cleavage studies show that the polypeptide backbone is cyclic. The three-dimensional solution structure has been determined us...