Kunitz domain 1 of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-1 (HAI-1)
This model includes Kunitz domain 1 (KD1) of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 (HAI1 or HAI-1, also known as Kunitz-type protease inhibitor 1), a membrane-bound multidomain protein essential to the integrity of the basement membrane during placental development. HAI-1 contains an extracellular region and several internal domains that include two Kunitz domains separated in sequence but spatially closed to each other, and their interdomain interactions have evolved to stimulate the inhibitory activity of an integrated Kunitz. KD1, the major inhibitory domain of HAI-1, is involved in auto-inhibition of the extracellular region via steric blockage of its active site in the HAI-1 compact tertiary structure; presence of the target protease causes changes in the HAI-1 structure to an extended conformation. HAI-1 has been shown to inhibit several serine proteases such as matripase, hepsin, trypsin, hepatocyte growth factor activator (HGFA), and prostasin. It is also important in maintaining postnatal homeostasis in many tissues, including keratinization of the epidermis, hair development, colonic epithelium integrity, proliferation and cell fate of neural progenitor cells, and tissue injury and repair. The interaction between HAI-1 and matriptase is critical for tissue morphogenesis and cellular biology. HAI-1:matriptase ratio imbalance results in tumorigenesis; slight overexpression of matriptase relative to HAI-1 causes spontaneous squamous cell carcinoma, a phenotype that can be effectively reversed back to wild type by additional expression of HAI-1, indicating the need for a tight functional relationship between the two to maintain homeostasis. The structures of these domains are similar to those of Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitors such as BPTI (bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor), showing an alpha/beta fold with irregular secondary structure stabilized by three disulfide bonds.
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