Human mesotrypsin is an isoform of trypsin that displays unusual resistance to polypeptide trypsin inhibitors and has been observed to cleave several such inhibitors as substrates. Whereas substitution of arginine for the highly conserved glycine 193 in the trypsin active site has been implicated as a critical factor in the inhibitor resistance of mesotrypsin, how this substitution leads to accelerated inhibitor cleavage is not clear. Bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) forms an extremely stable and cleavage-resistant complex with trypsin, and thus provides a rigorous challenge of mesotrypsin catalytic activity toward polypeptide inhibitors. Here, we report kinetic constants for mesotrypsin and the highly homologous (but inhibitor sensitive) human cationic trypsin, describing inhibition by, and cleavage of BPTI, as well as crystal structures of the mesotrypsin-BPTI and human cationic trypsin-BPTI complexes. We find that mesotrypsin cleaves BPTI with a rate constant accelerated 350-fold over that of human cationic trypsin and 150,000-fold over that of bovine trypsin. From the crystal structures, we see that small conformational adjustments limited to several side chains enable mesotrypsin-BPTI complex formation, surmounting the predicted steric clash introduced by Arg-193. Our results show that the mesotrypsin-BPTI interface favors catalysis through (a) electrostatic repulsion between the closely spaced mesotrypsin Arg-193 and BPTI Arg-17, and (b) elimination of two hydrogen bonds between the enzyme and the amine leaving group portion of BPTI. Our model predicts that these deleterious interactions accelerate leaving group dissociation and deacylation.There are three human trypsins encoded by different genes; cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) and anionic trypsinogen (PRSS2) are located at proximal loci on chromosome 7q35, while mesotrypsinogen (PRSS3) is found on chromosome 9p13 (1). All three isoforms are secreted as digestive zymogens in the pancreas and activated by enteropeptidase in the duodenum (2). A differentially spliced form of mesotrypsinogen termed trypsinogen 4, transcribed from an alternative promoter (3) and utilizing an unconventional CUG translation initiation codon (4), is highly expressed in brain tissue (5) and in some epithelial cell lines (6) and tumors (7). The two zymogen forms differ only at the N terminus, and processing of either form by removal of the prodomain results in active mesotrypsin of identical amino acid sequence (3). Trypsinogen 4 lacks a recognizable signal sequence and it is not known whether or how the enzyme might be secreted, though there is some evidence for processing of the prodomain and deposition of activated mesotrypsin in the extracellular neuronal matrix (8).The most striking characteristic of mesotrypsin is its unique resistance to polypeptide trypsin inhibitors (9, 10). Canonical trypsin inhibitors feature characteristic binding loops that bind to the trypsin active site extremely tightly, mimicking a substrate, yet are cleaved extremely slowly (11-13). Mesot...

The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a ubiquitously expressed transmembrane adhesion protein and the progenitor of amyloid-␤ peptides. The major splice isoforms of APP expressed by most tissues contain a Kunitz protease inhibitor domain; secreted APP containing this domain is also known as protease nexin 2 and potently inhibits serine proteases, including trypsin and coagulation factors. The atypical human trypsin isoform mesotrypsin is resistant to inhibition by most protein protease inhibitors and cleaves some inhibitors at a substantially accelerated rate. Here, in a proteomic screen to identify potential physiological substrates of mesotrypsin, we find that APP/protease nexin 2 is selectively cleaved by mesotrypsin within the Kunitz protease inhibitor domain. In studies employing the recombinant Kunitz domain of APP (APPI), we show that mesotrypsin cleaves selectively at the Arg 15 -Ala 16 reactive site bond, with kinetic constants approaching those of other proteases toward highly specific protein substrates. Finally, we show that cleavage of APPI compromises its inhibition of other serine proteases, including cationic trypsin and factor XIa, by 2 orders of magnitude. Because APP/protease nexin 2 and mesotrypsin are coexpressed in a number of tissues, we suggest that processing by mesotrypsin may ablate the protease inhibitory function of APP/protease nexin 2 in vivo and may also modulate other activities of APP/protease nexin 2 that involve the Kunitz domain.Mesotrypsin is a human trypsin encoded by the PRSS3 gene found on chromosome 9p13 (1). Normal expression of PRSS3 is restricted to pancreas, brain, and, to a lesser extent, small intestine and colon (2-4); additionally, PRSS3 appears to be transcriptionally up-regulated with cancer progression in epithelial cancers, including lung (5), colon (6), and prostate. Mesotrypsin exhibits substantially different specificity from other trypsins toward protein substrates. It fails to activate pancreatic zymogens and also shows reduced capacity to degrade trypsinogens (7). Compared with other trypsins, it is significantly compromised in its ability to cleave protease-activated receptors (8 -10). Despite limited activity toward these classic trypsin substrates, mesotrypsin displays enhanced catalytic activity compared with other trypsins in the cleavage of certain specific protein substrates, most notably several canonical protease inhibitors (7, 11).The "canonical" inhibitors of serine proteases, named for a protease-binding loop of highly characteristic backbone conformation (12, 13), fulfill the paradoxical function of binding to a protease in a substrate-like manner yet acting as an inhibitor rather than an ordinary substrate. These inhibitors, representing at least 18 different convergently evolved protein families (14, 15), inhibit their cognate proteases via the "Laskowski mechanism," in which inhibitors act as highly specific, limited proteolysis substrates for target enzymes (14, 16). They bind so as to position a specific peptide bond, the "reactive si...

An important functional property of protein protease inhibitors is their stability to proteolysis. Mesotrypsin is a human trypsin that has been implicated in the proteolytic inactivation of several protein protease inhibitors. We have found that bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), a Kunitz protease inhibitor, inhibits mesotrypsin very weakly and is slowly proteolyzed, whereas, despite close sequence and structural homology, the Kunitz protease inhibitor domain of the amyloid precursor protein (APPI) binds to mesotrypsin 100 times more tightly and is cleaved 300 times more rapidly. To define features responsible for these differences, we have assessed the binding and cleavage by mesotrypsin of APPI and BPTI reciprocally mutated at two nonidentical residues that make direct contact with the enzyme. We find that Arg at P 1 (versus Lys) favors both tighter binding and more rapid cleavage, whereas Met (versus Arg) at P 2 favors tighter binding but has minimal effect on cleavage. Surprisingly, we find that the APPI scaffold greatly enhances proteolytic cleavage rates, independently of the binding loop. We draw thermodynamic additivity cycles analyzing the interdependence of P 1 and P 2 substitutions and scaffold differences, finding multiple instances in which the contributions of these features are nonadditive. We also report the crystal structure of the mesotrypsin⅐APPI complex, in which we find that the binding loop of APPI displays evidence of increased mobility compared with BPTI. Our data suggest that the enhanced vulnerability of APPI to mesotrypsin cleavage may derive from sequence differences in the scaffold that propagate increased flexibility and mobility to the binding loop.

PRSS3/mesotrypsin is an atypical isoform of trypsin that has been associated with breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer cell malignancy. In analyses of open source transcriptional microarray data, we find that PRSS3 expression is upregulated in metastatic prostate cancer tissue, and that expression of PRSS3 in primary prostate tumors is prognostic of systemic progression following prostatectomy. Using a mouse orthotopic model with bioluminescent imaging, we show that PRSS3/mesotrypsin is critical for prostate cancer metastasis. Silencing of PRSS3 inhibits anchorage independent growth of prostate cancer cells in soft agar assays, and suppresses invasiveness in Matrigel transwell assays and three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models. We further show that treatment with recombinant mesotrypsin directly promotes an invasive cellular phenotype in prostate cancer cells, and find that these effects are specific and require the proteolytic activity of mesotrypsin, because neither cationic trypsin nor a mesotrypsin mutant lacking activity can drive the invasive phenotype. Finally, we demonstrate that a newly developed, potent inhibitor of mesotrypsin activity can suppress prostate cancer cell invasion to a similar extent as PRSS3 gene silencing. This study defines mesotrypsin as an important mediator of prostate cancer progression and metastasis, and suggests that inhibition of mesotrypsin activity may provide a novel modality for prostate cancer treatment.

SYNOPSIS PRSS3/mesotrypsin is an atypical isoform of trypsin, the upregulation of which has been implicated in promoting tumor progression. Mesotrypsin inhibitors could potentially provide valuable research tools and novel therapeutics, but small molecule trypsin inhibitors have low affinity and little selectivity, while protein trypsin inhibitors bind poorly and are rapidly degraded by mesotrypsin. Here, we use mutagenesis of a mesotrypsin substrate, the Kunitz domain of the amyloid precursor protein (APPI), and of a poor mesotrypsin inhibitor, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), to dissect mesotrypsin specificity at the key P2′ position. We find that bulky and charged residues strongly disfavor binding, while acidic residues facilitate catalysis. Crystal structures of mesotrypsin complexes with BPTI variants provide structural insights into mesotrypsin specificity and inhibition. Through optimization of the P1 and P2′ residues of BPTI, we generate a stable, high affinity mesotrypsin inhibitor with an equilibrium binding constant Ki of 5.9 nM, a >2000-fold improvement in affinity over native BPTI. Using this engineered inhibitor, we demonstrate the efficacy of pharmacologic inhibition of mesotrypsin in assays of breast cancer cell malignant growth and pancreatic cancer cell invasion. While further improvements in inhibitor selectivity will be important before clinical potential can be realized, our studies support the feasibility of engineering protein protease inhibitors of mesotrypsin and highlight their therapeutic potential.