The construction and expression of deletion mutant of human pro-urokinase cDNA

The human pro-urokinase mutant deleting 150-156 amino acids was constructed by overlap-extension PCR and other molecular cloning techniques. The mutant was expressed transiently in COS-7 cells and constitutively in CHO cells; the expression level is 450-500 IU/10(6) cells/24 h. SDS-PAGE and Western blotting analysis showed that the molecular weight of the expression product is 54 kDa, which is similar to that of the mature pro-UK and recombinant pro-UK (rPro-UK) expressed by full-length cDNA. Most of the products exist in the form of single chain; the percentage of single chain is much higher than that of rPro-UK. In addition, the mutant product is more resistant to proteinases and its affinity to fibrin is also improved slightly.