Design and characterization of hirulogs: A novel class of bivalent peptide inhibitors of thrombin

A novel class of synthetic peptides has been designed that inhibit the thrombin catalytic site and exhibit specificity for the anion-binding exosite (ABE) of α-thrombin. These peptides, called hirulogs, consist of (i) an active-site specificity sequence with a restricted Arg-Pro scissile bond, (ii) a polymeric linker of glycyl residues from 6 to 18 angstrom in length, and (iii) an ABE recognition sequence such as that in the hirudin C-terminus. Hirulog-1 [(D-Phe)-Pro-Arg-Pro-(Gly)4-Asn-Gly-Asp-Phe-Glu-Glu-Ile-Pro-Glu-Tyr-Leu] inhibits the thrombin-catalyzed hydrolysis of a tripeptide p-nitroanilide substrate with Ki = 2.3 nM. In contrast, the synthetic C-terminal hirudin peptide S-Hir53-64, which binds to the thrombin ABE, blocked the fibrinogen clotting activity of the enzyme with Ki = 144 nM but failed to inhibit the hydrolysis of p-nitroanilide substrates at concentrations as high as 1 mM. Hirulog-1, but not S-Hir53-64, was found to inhibit the incorporation of [14C]diisopropyl fluorophosphate in thrombin. Hirulog-1 appears specific for thrombin as it lacks inhibitory activities toward human factor Xa, human plasmin, and bovine trypsin at inhibitor:enzyme concentrations 3 orders of magnitude higher than those required to inhibit thrombin. The optimal inhibitory activity of hirulog-1 depends upon all three components of its structure. Comparison of anticoagulant activities of hirulog-1, hirudin, and S-Hir53-64 showed that the synthetic hirulog-1 is 2-fold more potent than hirudin and 100-fold more active than S-Hir53-64 in increasing the activated partial thromboplastin time of normal human plasma