A Protein from Aloe vera that Inhibits the Cleavage of Human Fibrin(ogen) by Plasmin

A protease inhibitor protein with the molecular mass of 11,804.931 Da (analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry) was isolated from Aloe vera leaf gel and designated as AVPI-12. The isoelectric point of the protein is about 7.43. The first ten amino acid sequence from the N-terminal was found to be R-D-W-A-E-P-N-D-G-Y, which did not match other protease inhibitors in database searches and other publications, indicating AVPI-12 is a novel protease inhibitor. The band protein of AVPI-12 migrated further on nonreducing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) than reducing SDS-PAGE. This result indicated that the molecule of AVPI-12 did not contain interchain disulfide bonds, but appeared to have intrachain disulfide bonds instead. AVPI-12 strongly resisted digestion by the serine proteases human plasmin and bovine trypsin. The protein could protect the gamma-subunit of human fibrinogen from plasmin and trypsin digestion, similar to the natural plasma serine protease inhibitor alpha(2)-macroglobulin. The protein also could protect the gamma-subunit of fibrinogen from the cysteine protease papain. AVPI-12 also exhibited dose-dependent inhibition of the fibrinogenolytic activity of plasmin, similar to alpha(2)-macroglobulin. The fibrinolytic inhibitory activity of AVPI-12 and the small-angle X-ray scattering showed that the protein could protect human fibrin clot from complete degradation by plasmin. The inhibition of the fibrinogenolytic and fibrinolytic activities of plasmin by AVPI-12 suggests that the inhibitor has potential for use in antifibrinolytic treatment.