Summary
A two-site sandwich ELISA was developed to measure PAI-1 antigen and utilised a polyclonal
antiserum produced against PAI-1 purified from human endothelial cell secretory products.
The assay was calibrated against a preparation of pure PAI-1 whose protein concentration
had been determined by amino acid analysis and the detection limit was 30 pg PAI-1
ml“3 sample. PAI-1 was detected in primate sera but not in a wide range of nonprimate
sera and no cross-reactivity with α2-antiplasmin or antithrombin III was observed.
The ELISA was used to study cellular secretion of PAI-1 which was confirmed as a major
secretory protein in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). PAI-1 antigen
accumulated in the medium in a linear fashion with time and accounted for ≃10% of
total secreted protein. Specific activity of intracellular PAI1 was typically 20-fold
greater than that of PAI-1 in 24 h conditioned medium and a t½ for inactivation of secreted PAI-1 of 0.53 h was calculated. Purified endotoxin stimulated
the secretion of PAI-1 antigen and raised the intracellular levels in HUVEC cultures
showing that the anti-fibrinolytic actions of endotoxin are effected by increasing
the rate of synthesis and secretion of PAI-1.
Key words
ELISA - Plasminogen activator inhibitor - Endothelial - Cell cultures