SOLUBLE HUMAN UROKINASE RECEPTOR IS COMPOSED OF 2 ACTIVE UNITS

The mechanism by which single-chain urokinase (scuPA) binds to its rec eptor (uPAR) is incompletely understood, We report that a fragment com prising the first domain of recombinant soluble uPAR (sDI) as well as a fragment comprising the remaining domains (sDII-DIII) competes with the binding of recombinant full-length soluble uPAR (suPAR) to scuPA w ith an IC50 = 253 nM and an IC50 = 1569, respectively, sDII-III binds directly to scuPA with K-d = 238 nM. Binding of scuPA to each fragment also induces the expression of plasminogen activator activity. sDI an d sDII-DIII (200 nM each) induced activity equal to 66 and 36% of the maximum activity induced by full-length suPAR (5 nM), respectively, Ea ch fragment also stimulates the binding of scuPA to cells lacking endo genous uPAR, Although scuPA binds to sDI and to sDII-DIII through its amino-terminal fragment, the fragments act synergistically to inhibit the binding of suPAR and to stimulate plasminogen activator activity, Furthermore, sDII-DIII retards the velocity and alters the pattern of cleavage of sDI by chymotrypsin, These results suggest that binding of scuPA to more than one epitope in suPAR is required for its optimal a ctivation and association with cell membranes.