Binding of anhydrotrypsin to alpha 2-macroglobulin.

Radiolabelled anhydrotrypsin was bound by alpha 2M (alpha 2-macroglobulin) sufficiently tightly to resist separation during gel electrophoresis; 2 mol of anhydrotrypsin were bound/mol of alpha 2M, but the interaction differed in important respects from that between active proteinases and alpha 2M. Anhydrotrypsin was bound by the electrophoretically 'fast' form of alpha 2M, although much less effectively than by the 'slow' form. The inactive enzyme was displaced from alpha 2M by trypsin inhibitor, the order of effectiveness being aprotinin > soya-bean trypsin inhibitor > benzamidine. Saturation of alpha 2M with anhydrotrypsin did not prevent subsequent binding and inhibition of active trypsin by the alpha 2M, and the anhydrotrypsin was not displaced during this reaction. Anhydrotrypsin bound by alpha 2M retained its ability to react with antibodies against trypsin, whereas bound trypsin did not.