Transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of lysyl oxidase expression in vascular smooth muscle cells: effects of TGF-beta 1 and serum deprivation.

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) markedly reduced cell proliferation and elevated steady state lysyl oxidase (LO) mRNA 3-fold in neonatal rat aorta smooth muscle cells cultured in medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum. The increase in LO mRNA was prevented by the presence of cycloheximide, indicative of controlling events at the level of protein synthesis. The basal level of mRNA in cells proliferating in 10% fetal bovine serum in the absence of TGF-beta 1 was enhanced 7-fold upon decreasing growth by shifting to medium containing 0.5% serum. Changes in LO activity paralleled those in LO mRNA. Nuclear run-on assays revealed that the stimulation of expression in 0.5% serum involved increased gene transcription whereas that caused by TGF-beta 1 was mostly post-transcriptional in origin. LO mRNA was quite labile (t1/2 approximately 3 h) in 10% serum but was markedly stabilized (t1/2 > 12 h) by the presence of TGF-beta 1 in the 10% serum medium. LO mRNA was also considerably more stable under retarded growth conditions (0.5% serum) in the absence of TGF-beta 1. LO promoter activity in luciferase reporter constructs transfected into these cells was low and not significantly affected by the addition of TGF-beta 1 to the 10% serum medium but was markedly elevated by shifting from 10 to 0.5% serum in the absence of TGF-beta 1. Thus, LO expression is inversely correlated with cell proliferation, and is subject to control at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. TGF-beta 1 enhances LO expression in these cells by dramatically stabilizing LO mRNA.

Metalloproteinase activity secreted by fibrogenic cells in the processing of prolysyl oxidase. Potential role of procollagen C-proteinase.

Lysyl oxidase is secreted from fibrogenic cells as a 50-kDa proenzyme that is proteolytically processed to the mature enzyme in the extracellular space. To characterize the secreted proteinase activity, a truncated, recombinant form of lysyl oxidase was prepared as a proteinase substrate containing the sequence of the propeptide cleavage region. The processing proteinase activity secreted by cultured fibrogenic cells resists inhibitors of serine or aspartyl proteinases as well as tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2) but is completely inhibited by metal ion chelators. Known metalloproteinases were tested for their activity toward this substrate. Carboxyl-terminal procollagen proteinase (C-proteinase), MMP-2, and conditioned fibrogenic cell culture medium cleave the lysyl oxidase substrate to the size of the mature enzyme. The NH2-terminal sequence generated by arterial smooth muscle conditioned medium and the C-proteinase but not by MMP-2, i.e. Asp-Asp-Pro-Tyr, was identical to that previously identified in mature lysyl oxidase isolated from connective tissue. The C-proteinase activity against the model substrate was inhibited by a synthetic oligopeptide mimic of the cleavage sequence (Ac-Met-Val-Gly-Asp-Asp-Pro-Tyr-Asn-amide), whereas this peptide also inhibited the generation of lysyl oxidase activity in the medium of fetal rat lung fibroblasts in culture. In toto, these results identify a secreted metalloproteinase activity participating in the activation of prolysyl oxidase, identify inhibitors of the processing activity, and implicate procollagen C-proteinase in this role.

Expression of lysyl oxidase from cDNA constructs in mammalian cells: the propeptide region is not essential to the folding and secretion of the functional enzyme.

Rat aortic lysyl oxidase cDNA was expressed under a metallothionein promoter in Chinese hamster ovary cells using a dihydrofolate reductase selection marker. One methotrexate-resistant cell line, LOD-06, generated by transfecting with full-length cDNA, yielded lysyl oxidase proteins consistent with the 50 kDa proenzyme and a 29 kDa mature catalyst. A second cell line, LOD32-2, was generated by transfection with a truncated cDNA lacking sequences which code for the bulk of the propeptide region. Both cell lines secreted apparently identical, 29 kDa forms of mature lysyl oxidase each of which catalyzed the deamination of human recombinant tropoelastin and alkylamines, consistent with the known specificity of lysyl oxidase. The secreted enzyme forms were inhibited by chemical inhibitors of lysyl oxidase activity, including beta-aminopropionitrile, phenylhydrazine, ethylenediamine, alpha, alpha'-dipyridyl, and diethyldithiocarbamate. Sensitivity to these agents is consistent with the presence of copper and carbonyl cofactors in the expressed enzymes, characteristic of lysyl oxidase from connective tissues. These results indicate the lack of essentiality of the deleted proprotein sequence for the proper folding, generation of catalytic function, and secretion of lysyl oxidase.

Identification of lysyl oxidase and other platelet-derived growth factor-inducible genes in vascular smooth muscle cells by differential screening.

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis and arterial injury are characterized by vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) migration and growth and an increase in synthesis of extracellular matrix. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) has been implicated in these processes. This study was designed to identify additional PDGF-regulated genes in VSMC. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: A cDNA library prepared from PDGF-stimulated rat aortic VSMC was screened by differential hybridization to identify clones representing PDGF-inducible genes. The time course of growth factor-induced changes in gene expression was examined by RNA blot hybridization. Assays of protein activity were also performed for selected gene products. RESULTS: Four PDGF-regulated cDNA clones were identified by DNA sequencing. These encoded the extracellular matrix proteins lysyl oxidase (LO), thrombospondin, and osteopontin and the intracellular enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Levels of mRNA corresponding to all four genes were low in quiescent VSMC and were markedly induced by PDGF, angiotensin II, and 10% calf serum. The regulation of LO and LDH mRNA by these agonists in VSMC has not been previously reported. LO enzymatic activity in the culture media was increased by approximately equals to 700% after exposure to PDGF. In contrast, LDH activity was not increased by PDGF treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The induction of LO mRNA and its secretion by VSMC is an early event accompanying growth factor stimulation and may contribute to organization of the extracellular matrix.

Structural and catalytic properties of copper in lysyl oxidase.

The spectral and catalytic properties of the copper cofactor in highly purified bovine aortic lysyl oxidase have been examined. As isolated, various preparations of purified lysyl oxidase are associated with 5-9 loosely bound copper atoms per molecule of enzyme which are removed by dialysis against EDTA. The enzyme also contains 0.99 +/- 0.10 g atom of tightly bound copper per 32-kDa monomer which is not removed by this treatment. The copper-free apoenzyme, prepared by dialysis of lysyl oxidase against alpha,alpha'-dipyridyl in 6 M urea, catalyzed neither the oxidative turnover of amine substrates nor the anaerobic production of aldehyde at levels stoichiometric with enzyme active site content, thus contrasting with the ping pong metalloenzyme. Moreover, the spectrum of the apoenzyme was not measurably perturbed upon anaerobic incubation with n-butylamine, while difference absorption bands were generated at 250 and 308 nm in the spectrum of the metalloenzyme incubated under the same conditions. A difference absorption band also developed at 300-310 nm upon anaerobic incubation of pyrroloquinoline quinone, the putative carbonyl cofactor of lysyl oxidase, with n-butylamine. Full restoration of catalytic activity occurred upon the reconstitution of the apoenzyme with 1 g atom of copper/32-kDa monomer, whereas identical treatment of the apoenzyme with divalent salts of zinc, cobalt, iron, mercury, magnesium, or cadmium failed to restore catalytic activity. The EPR spectrum of copper in lysyl oxidase is typical of the tetragonally distorted, octahedrally coordinated Cu(II) sites observed in other amine oxidases and indicates coordination by at least three nitrogen ligands. The single copper atom in the lysyl oxidase monomer is thus essential at least for the catalytic and possibly for the structural integrity of this protein.

Vicinal diamines as pyrroloquinoline quinone-directed irreversible inhibitors of lysyl oxidase.

The observation that aliphatic diamines become poor substrates as the carbon chain length decreases and that ethylenediamine, the shortest diamine, is an irreversible inhibitor of lysyl oxidase led to the investigation of the mechanism of inhibition by ethylenediamine. The cis but not the trans isomer of 1,2-diaminocyclohexane was also a potent irreversible inhibitor of lysyl oxidase, consistent with the interaction of both amino groups of vicinal diamines with an enzyme moiety. Both cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and ethylenediamine but not trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane markedly perturbed the spectrum of free pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ), a covalently linked form of which is the carbonyl cofactor of lysyl oxidase. cis-1,2-Diaminocyclohexane also induced similar changes in the spectrum of lysyl oxidase. The perturbations of the spectra of PQQ or of lysyl oxidase by cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane or ethylenediamine as well as the development of irreversible inhibition of the enzyme by cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane or ethylenediamine were all markedly reduced under anaerobic conditions. Moreover, approximately 1 mol of H2O2 was released per mol of PQQ or lysyl oxidase upon aerobic incubation with cis-1,2-diaminocyclohexane, while approximately 2 mol of 3H+ were released from cis-[1,2-3H] 1,2-diaminocyclohexane per mol of PQQ or lysyl oxidase under corresponding conditions. A proposal for the mechanism of inhibition of lysyl oxidase by vicinal diamines is presented which involves limited oxidation of the diamine linked to PQQ at the active site so that the PQQ-diamine complex is finally stabilized by a conjugated 6-membered ring.

Evidence for a functional role for histidine in lysyl oxidase catalysis.

The pH-dependent kinetics of lysyl oxidase catalysis was examined for evidence of an ionizable enzyme residue which might function as a general base catalyzing proton abstraction previously shown to be a component of the mechanism of substrate processing by this enzyme. Plots of log Vmax/Km for the oxidation of n-hexylamine versus pH yielded pKa values of 7.0 +/- 0.1 and 10.4 +/- 0.1. The higher pKa varied with different substrates, reflecting ionization of the substrate amino group. A van't Hoff plot of the temperature dependence of the lower pKa yielded a value of 6.1 kcal mol-1 for the enthalpy of ionization. This value as well as the pKa of 7.0 are consistent with those of histidine residues previously implicated as general base catalysts in enzymes. Incubation of lysyl oxidase with low concentrations of diethyl pyrocarbonate, a histidine-selective reagent, at 22 degrees C and pH 7.0 irreversibly inhibited enzyme activity by a pseudo first-order kinetic process. The inactivation of lysyl oxidase correlated with spectral and pH-dependent kinetic evidence for the chemical modification of 1 histidine residue/mol of enzyme, the pKa of which was 6.9 +/- 0.1, within experimental error of that seen in the plot of log Vmax/Km versus pH. Enzyme activity was restored by incubation of the modified enzyme with hydroxylamine, consistent with the ability of this nucleophile to displace the carbethoxy group from N-carbethoxyhistidine. The presence of the n-hexylamine substrate largely protected against enzyme inactivation by diethyl pyrocarbonate. These results thus indicate a functional role for histidine in lysyl oxidase catalysis consistent with that of a general base in proton abstraction.