Abstract

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is one of the three most abundant prostatic-secreted proteins in human semen. It is a serine proteinase that, in its primary structure, manifests extensive similarities with that of the Arg-restricted glandular kallikrein-like proteinases. When isolated from semen by the addition of chromatography on aprotinin-Sepharose to a previously described procedure, PSA displayed chymotrypsin-like activity and cleaved semenogelin and the semenogelin-related proteins in a rapid and characteristic pattern, but had no trypsin-like activity. About one third of the purified protein was found to be enzymatically inactive, due to cleavage carboxy-terminal of Lys145. Active PSA formed SDS-stable complexes with alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, alpha 2-macroglobulin-analogue pregnancy zone protein. PSA formed inhibitory complexes with alpha 1-antichymotrypsin at a molar ratio of 1:1, a reaction in which PSA cleaved the inhibitor in a position identical to that reported from the reaction between chymotrypsin and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin. The formation of stable complexes between PSA and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin occurred at a much slower rate than that between chymotrypsin and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, and at a similar or slightly slower rate than that between PSA and alpha 2-macroglobulin. When added to normal blood plasma in vitro, active PSA formed stable complexes both with alpha 2-macroglobulin and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin. This complex formation may be a crucial determinant of the turnover of active PSA in intercellular fluid or blood plasma in vivo.