Heparin, a powerful inhibition of type II casein kinases, stimulates the phosphorylation of some protein substrates by the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase.

Heparin, which has been shown to behave as a very effective and specific inhibitor of type II casein kinases, exhibits a stimulatory effect on the phosphorylation rate of pyruvate kinase and phosphorylase kinase, but not of histones, by the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. When pyruvate kinase is the substrate the phosphorylation rate is approximately doubled by heparin concentrations around 100 micrograms/ml, but just 2 to 4 micrograms heparin per ml are sufficient to induce a half maximal effect. No stimulation by heparin can be observed replacing the protein substrates with two synthetic peptides reproducing the phosphorylatable sites of pyruvate kinase and of the gamma subunit of phosphorylase kinase. These data support the hypothesis that heparin accelerates phosphorylation by rendering the phosphorylatable sites more readily accessible to the protein kinase.