High molecular weight kininogen (HK) is an abundant plasma glycoprotein that plays a central role in the kallikrein-kinin system. Cleavage of HK by plasma kallikrein results in release of bradykinin and generation of two-chain high molecular weight kininogen (HKa). We have reported that HKa and recombinant HKa domain 5 (which is exposed following HK cleavage) induce selective apoptosis of proliferating endothelial cells in a Zn2+-dependent manner, and inhibit angiogenesis. Based on molecular modeling studies suggesting that HKa domain 5 has structural homology to endostatin, and a report suggesting that endostatin bound to endothelial cells through interactions with tropomyosin, we determined whether tropomyosin was involved in the antiangiogenic activity of HKa. We observed that an anti-tropomyosin antibody blocked HKa-induced endothelial cell apoptosis, as well as the binding of HKa to proliferating endothelial cells. This antibody also blocked the antiangiogenic effects of HKa in vivo, and additional antitropomyosin antibodies shared these effects. Endothelial cells express at least 5 isoforms of tropomyosin, and studies employing confocal microscopy, immunoprecipitation of biotinylated endothelial cell surface proteins and acid elution approaches suggest that tropomyosin is exposed on the surface of proliferating endothelial cells. Direct measurement of the binding of HKa to tropomyosin demonstrated high affinity binding to all tropomyosin isoforms studied, suggesting that HKa bound to a homologous region within these proteins. Finally, affinity purification of chymotrypsin-digested tropomyosin on HKa-sepharose, as w ell as panning of a cyclic random peptide Library on HKa, led to tentative identification of HKa binding regions within tropomyosin. In this application, we propose to 1) compare the expression and subcellular distribution of different tropomyosin isoforms by subconfluent, proliferating and confluent endothelial cells, 2) determine whether tropomyosin is exposed on the surface of angiogenic endothelial cells in vivo, and whether it serves as a binding site for HKa in this setting, and 3) define the HKa binding site in tropomyosin, and assess its functional importance. These studies challenge the paradigm in which cytoskeletal components are considered inaccessible to the extracellular milieu, and should provide new information concerning the biology of endothelial tropomyosin, and its roles in angiogenesis and the antiangiogenic activity of HKa.
