The selective inhibition of thrombin by peptides of boroarginine

Peptides containing alpha-aminoboronic acids with neutral side chains are highly effective reaction intermediate analog inhibitors of the serine proteases leukocyte elastase, pancreatic elastase, and chymotrypsin. A protocol has been developed for the synthesis of peptides containing alpha-aminoboronic acids with a basic, 3-guanidinopropyl side chain (boroArg) to extend the range of these compounds to trypsin-like proteases. Ac-(D)Phe-Pro-boroArg-OH, Boc-(D)Phe-Pro-boroArg-OH, and H-(D)Phe-Pro-boroArg-OH were prepared as inhibitors of thrombin based on earlier observations that it has a high affinity for this sequence. All three boronic acids are highly effective, slow-binding inhibitors of thrombin, inhibiting it with final inhibition constants and association rates of: 41 pM, 5.5 x 10(6) M-1 s-1; 3.6 pM, 9.3 x 10(6) M-1 s-1; less than 1 pM, 8.0 x 10(6) M-1 s-1, respectively. Comparison of their binding at equilibrium to thrombin, plasma kallikrein, factor Xa, plasmin, and two-chain tissue plasminogen activator has shown that all three inhibitors have at least 2 orders of magnitude greater affinity for thrombin, with the exception of the acetyl derivative which has a 40-fold greater affinity for thrombin than kallikrein. The boroarginine peptides are effective in inhibiting the action of thrombin in rabbit plasma against its physiological substrates. Activated partial thromboplastin time was significantly prolonged in vitro by all of the inhibitors at concentrations of 50-200 nM. Prolongations of activated partial thromboplastin time were also observed in rabbits after intravenous (40-80 micrograms/kg or subcutaneous (0.20-2 mg/kg) injections of Ac-(D)Phe-Pro-boroArg-OH. Results indicate that this new class of synthetic thrombin inhibitors may be clinically useful as antithrombotic agents.