Proteinase Inhibitors from the Medicinal Leech Hirudo medicinalis

I. P. Baskova^1* and L. L. Zavalova²

¹School ofBiology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119899 Russia

²Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, Moscow, 117997 Russia; fax: (095) 330-6538; E-mail: leech@humgen.siobc.ras.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received January 29, 2001; Revision received March 6, 2001

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The medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis produces various types of proteinase inhibitors: bdellins (inhibitors of trypsin, plasmin, and acrosin), hirustasin (inhibitor of tissue kallikrein, trypsin, alpha-chymotrypsin, and granulocyte cathepsin G), tryptase inhibitor, eglins (inhibitors of alpha-chymotrypsin, subtilisin, and chymasin and the granulocyte proteinases elastase and cathepsin G), inhibitor of factor Xa, hirudin (thrombin inhibitor), inhibitor of carboxypeptidase, and inhibitor of complement component C1s. This review summarizes data on their primary and tertiary structures, action mechanisms, and biological activities.

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KEY WORDS: medicinal leech, bdellins, eglins, hirustasin, tryptase inhibitor, factor Xa inhibitor, hirudin, carboxypeptidase inhibitor, component complement inhibitor, trypsin, chymotrypsin, thrombin, kallikrein, subtilisin, granulocyte elastase, granulocyte cathepsin G

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