RELATION OP FIBRIN STIMULATION OF tPA MEDIATED PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATION AND FIBRIN BINDING TOWARDS FIBRONEKTIN AS REVEALED BY A MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY (MAB) AGAINST FCB-2 FIBRINOGEN FRAGMENTS
Fibrin binds to the finger domain of fibronektin via the C-terminal end of the chain and it was reported previously by us that in a fluid phase assay fibronektin inhibits fibrin enhancement of plasminogen activation by tPA. However, other have shown that tPA binds to fibronectin thereby possibly mediating enhanced matrix bound plasmin formation. In the present study we tried to further characterize the interaction between fibronectin and fibrin in regard to fibrin dependent enhancement of plasminogen activation by tPA. For fibrin binding to fibronectin we have developed an ELISA system using fibronectin coated plates and antibodies against fibrin(ogen) to quantify bound fibrin. For determination of plasminogen activation we used a coupled spectrophotometric fluid phase assay with Glu-plasminogen as substrate and H-D-Val-Leu-Lys-pNA to quantify the formed plasmin. Fibrin binding to coated fibronectin was linear between 500ng and 1 mg/ml for fibrin monomers (reptilase), FCB-2 fragments and thrombin (3.3 U/ml) treated fibrinogen, respectively. A monoclonal antibody directed against the FCB-2 fibrinogen fragment which also could be shown to recognize fibirn but not fibrinogen did not recognize fibronectin bound fibrin and inhibited also the fibrin stimulatory effect on plasminogen activation indicating that the epitope against which the antibody is directed is closely related to both the fibronectin binding site and the site involved in t-PA stimulation.