The location of inhibitory specificities in human mucus proteinase inhibitor (MPI): separate expression of the COOH-terminal domain yields an active inhibitor of three different proteinases.

Human mucus proteinase inhibitor (MPI) consists of 107 amino acids arranged in two domains showing high homology to each other. This protein is an inhibitor of different serine proteinases including trypsin, chymotrypsin, leukocyte elastase and cathepsin G. On the basis of sequence comparisons it has been suggested that the first domain inhibits trypsin, whereas the second one was thought to be active against chymotrypsin and elastase. To prove the location of the different inhibitory activities gene fragments for both domains have been cloned separately and expressed in Escherichia coli. Inhibition assays with the isolated recombinant domains showed that the second domain is active against chymotrypsin, neutrophil elastase and trypsin, whereas for the first domain only a weak activity against trypsin could be detected. These results suggest that the inhibitory activities of the native molecule towards these three proteinases are all located in the second domain.