Purification and characterization of a stimulator of plasmin generation from the antiangiogenic agent Neovastat: identification as immunoglobulin kappa light chain.

We have recently shown that Neovastat, an antiangiogenic extract from shark cartilage, stimulates the in vitro activation of plasminogen by facilitating the tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA)-dependent conversion of plasminogen to plasmin. In this report, we describe the purification and characterization of the stimulatory molecules. Neovastat was subjected to a three-step purification procedure including gel filtration, preparative isoelectric focusing, and preparative SDS–PAGE. Two 28-kDa proteins with pIs of approximately 4.5 and 6.5 were purified to apparent homogeneity and identified as immunoglobulin (Ig) kappa light chains by N-terminal microsequencing. Ig light chains do not directly stimulate the activity of tPA or plasmin, suggesting a mechanism of action involving an interaction with plasminogen. Kinetic analysis showed that both Ig light chains accelerate the in vitro tPA-dependent conversion of plasminogen in plasmin by increasing the affinity of tPA for plasminogen by 32- and 38-fold (Km decrease from 456nM to 12–14nM). Shark Ig light chains also stimulated the degradation of fibrin by the tPA/plasminogen system in an in vitro assay. A direct interaction between Ig light chains and plasminogen (KA=4.0–5.5×107M−1; KD=18–25nM) and with tPA (KA=2.8×107M−1; KD=36nM) was demonstrated using real time binding measured by surface plasmon resonance. Ig light chain is the first molecule associated with the antiangiogenic activity of Neovastat to be purified and identified.