Monitoring proteolytic cleavage of a membrane metalloproteinase on the cell surface with a cell-based assay

Proteolysis is one of the most essential biological processes as it serves different purposes such as protein maturation, degradation, and regulation. Proteolysis at the cell surface and extracellular matrix (ECM) plays significant roles in the progression of certain diseases as exemplified by the role of Matrix Metalloproteinase 14 (MMP-14) in cancer. MMP-14 is a ubiquitously-expressed cell surface protease known to activate several soluble MMPs (EC-MMPs) via extracellular proteolysis. Active EC-MMPs are then used for the restructuring of the ECM that can facilitate cell migration and development. MMP-14 is known to be highly expressed in cancer tissues, as cells require constant remodeling of the ECM to accommodate fast replication and migration that leads to metastasis.;The aim of this research is to develop a novel cell-based assay for the monitoring of proteolytic cleavage on the cell surface. We propose to develop such assay using MMP-14 cleavage activity as a proof-of-principle. The assay could also serve as a screening tool for the search of novel MMP-14 inhibitors. The assay is based on a two-tag system flanking an optimized substrate of MMP-14 that serves as the primary detection element that can distinguish cleavage and non-cleavage events. A fluorescent protein is later introduced as a visual marker for cell surface localization by fluorescence microscopy. Lastly, the entire scaffold protein will be targeted and anchored on the cell surface by the addition of the C-terminal transmembrane domain of mouse Lyt-2 cell surface protein.;The utility of the assay for monitoring cleavage on the cell surface will be demonstrated with the overexpression of MMP-14 as a proof-of-principle. Once the assay is calibrated and optimized to function as intended, it could also be further used as a platform to monitor other biologically important surface proteolysis events such as cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) in Alzheimer disease and proteolysis of sialic acid by the influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) for the spread of viral particles. More importantly, it can also be adapted to a high-throughput screening (HTS) platform for the screening for novel inhibitors of those aforementioned proteases.