Biochem/physiol Actions

Unlike pancreatic elastase the leukocyte enzyme has a preferential cleavage for the carboxyl side of valine, but will also cleave to a lesser extent after alanine. Natural substrates include elastin, cartilage proteoglycans, collagen types I, II, II and IV, and fibronectin.

Unit Definition

One unit will release one nanomole of p-nitrophenol per sec from BOC- L -alanine p-nitrophenyl ester at pH 6.5 at 37 °C.

Physical form

Lyophilized from 0.5 M pyridinium acetate, pH 5.3

Application

Elastase from Sigma has been used to digest fibronectin. The results were compared with fibronectin digestion by crude human leukocyte homogenateto examine the presence of fibronectin peptides in saliva of patients with Sjögren′s syndrome. It has also been used as a reference to determine the elastase activity in cell lysates. This study examined the effect of all-trans retinoic acid on procoagulant and fibrinolytic activities of cultured blast cells. These blast cells were from patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Elastase from human leukocytes has been used in a study that determined that fragments of Nle3-angiotensin(1-7) accelerate healing in dermal models.

Physical properties

Leukocyte elastase is a 29 kDa serine endoprotease of the Proteinase S1 Family. It exists as a single 238 amino acid-peptide chain with four disulfide bonds. It contains two or thee N-linked glycans of variable composition which account for its three major isoforms.
Isoelectric point: pI = 8.77 - 9.55