Regulation of the activity of protein kinases by endogenous heat stable protein inhibitors.

Protein kinase activities are regulated by endogenous thermostable protein inhibitors. Type I inhibitor is a protein of MW 22,000-24,000 which inhibits specifically cyclic AMP-(cAMP) dependent protein kinase (APK) as a competitive inhibitor of catalytic subunits of the enzyme. Type I inhibitor activity changes inversely according to the activation of adenylate cyclase and the changes in cAMP content in tissues. It seems that type I inhibitor serves as a factor preventing spontaneous cAMP-dependent phosphorylation in unstimulated cell. The other thermostable protein which inhibits APK activity has been found in Sertoli cell-enriched testis (testis inhibitor). Physiological role of the testis inhibitor is unknown. Type II inhibitor is a protein of MW 15,000 which blocks phosphorylation mediated by cAMP and cyclic GMP (cGMP) dependent (APK and GPK) and cyclic nucleotide independent protein kinases as a competitive inhibitor of substrate proteins. Activity of this inhibitor specifically changes in reciprocal manner to the changes in cGMP content. It seems that type II inhibitor serves as a factor preventing the phosphorylation catalyzed by GPK when cGMP content is low. Stimulation of guanylate cyclase and activation of GPK is followed by a decrease of type II inhibitor activity. This change in relationship between activities of GPK and type II inhibitor allows for effective phosphorylation catalyzed by this enzyme when cGMP content is increased.