Bacterial expression, purification, and partial characterization of amino acids 94–155 of human tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) as an inhibitor of blood coagulation factor Xa

Abstract Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) is a plasma-derived protein which inhibits two of the active serine proteases present during normal blood coagulation. Inhibition of both of these proteases, factors VIIa and Xa, is thought to require a factor Xa-TFPI complex. To begin to investigate the interactions between factor Xa and TFPI, amino acids 94–155, which encode for the second Kunitz domain (K2) of TFPI, were expressed, purified, and partially characterized. Expression of the recombinant peptide was accomplished using an E. coli expression system which produced the peptide at an expression level of approximately 2–5% of total cell protein. The peptide was localized to disulfide-linked refractile bodies which were solubilized by reduction in the presence of denaturant and the soluble protein refolded. Oxidized K2 was purified from the refold mixture using a two-step procedure employing gel filtration chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. The unprocessed form of the recombinant peptide, Met-Ala-K2 (rMA-K2), was characterized. This peptide was purified to apparent homogeneity as determined by SDS-PAGE, quantitative amino acid, Edman degradation, and electrospray mass spectrometry analyses (> 95% pure). The product bound to factor Xa covalently coupled to a solid support in the presence of 2M sodium chloride demonstrating its affinity for this enzyme. Preincubation of rMA-K2 peptide with factor Xa neutralized, with 1.1:1 stoichiometry, the ability of factor Xa to hydrolyze a small chromogenic substrate. Additionally, rMA-K2 prolonged the time to clot formation in a plasma-based assay dependent on factor Xa concentration. Finally, this peptide mildly prolonged the prothrombin and modified prothrombin times of normal pooled plasma. Taken together this data demonstrates that this region of TFPI inhibits factor Xa activity and allows for further characterization of this enzyme-inhibitor complex.