Journal: The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Article Title: Antagonist nanobodies prevent protease inhibition by CD109
doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2026.111187
Figure Lengend Snippet: E1-Fc and B3-Fc antagonize CD109's inhibition of chymotrypsin. A , CD109 was incubated with E1-Fc or B3-Fc in a (1:1) or (1:2), respectively, molar ratio of CD109:Nb-Fc, or buffer only for 30 min at room temperature. Chymotrypsin (#C3142, Sigma-aldrich) was added to the indicated ratios of CD109 in 50 mM Hepes, 100 mM NaCl, 5 mM CaCl2, pH 8 for 15 min, after which DQ-labeled gelatin was added as a chymotrypsin substrate. The fluorescence of digested gelatin was measured after 20 min. Chymotrypsin activity is normalized to its activity without the addition of CD109 or Nb-Fc. B , chymotrypsin activity at a 0:1 and 32:1 CD109:chymotrypsin molar ratio, with or without the addition of Nb-Fc. The significance of the inhibition of chymotrypsin by CD109 and the antagonism of CD109's inhibition by E1-Fc and B3-Fc was tested by unpaired two-tailed t-tests, and the resulting p -values are shown on the diagram. Chymotrypsin was significantly inhibited by CD109, and E1-Fc and B3-Fc significantly antagonized this inhibition. Both Fc constructs increased the activity of chymotrypsin when added without CD109 (approximately 20% increase), likely due to stabilizing chymotrypsin before gelatin addition. This stabilization is also conveyed by CD109 and can therefore be neglected when comparing the effect of CD109 with CD109-antibody complexes. Data are shown as the mean values ± SD, n = 3 (technical replicates). C , the ability of E1-Fc and B3-Fc to prevent CD109's chymotrypsin inhibition was investigated using α2-macroglobulin (A2M) as the protease substrate. CD109 was incubated with B3-Fc at a 1:2 M ratio of CD109: B3-Fc or with E1-Fc at a 1:1 M ratio for 15 min. Chymotrypsin was then added to a 1:18 protease:CD109 M ratio for 10 min at 37 °C. Then, A2M was added (using an amount of A2M giving a 1.2:1 chymotrypsin:A2M M ratio) and digested for an additional 5 min at 37 °C. Chymotrypsin was then inhibited with 2 mM PMSF prior to PAGE analysis. Controls were included which added buffer instead of CD109, antibody, and/or chymotrypsin but otherwise kept conditions identical. The samples were then analyzed by pore-limited native PAGE to determine the conformation of A2M. CD109 inhibited chymotrypsin's cleavage of A2M, and E1-Fc and B3-Fc antagonized this inhibition allowing chymotrypsin to cleave A2M despite pre-incubation with CD109.
Article Snippet: The blots were blocked in 5% milk for 2 h at room temperature and incubated with primary antibody, polyclonal sheep anti-CD109 antibody (R&D Systems, product #AF4385), overnight at 4 °C.
Techniques: Inhibition, Incubation, Labeling, Fluorescence, Activity Assay, Two Tailed Test, Construct, Clear Native PAGE