A 16-year-old girl with advanced cirrhosis and severe alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency of the homozygous Pi ZZ phenotype was treated by orthotopic liver transplantation. After replacement of the liver with a homograft from a donor with the normal Pi MM phenotype, the alpha 1-antitrypsin concentration in the recipient's serum rose to normal; it had the Pi MM phenotype. Two and a third years later,...

Alpha1-Antitrypsin (AAT), an acute-phase protein, is the prototypic member of the serpin superfamily and a major inhibitor of serine proteases such as neutrophil elastase and protease 3. As an acute-phase protein, AAT is thought to play an important role in limiting host tissue injury by proteases at sites of inflammation. The clinical importance of AAT is highlighted in individuals with inheri...

alpha-1-Antitrypsin is found in hepatocytes as a high-mannose glycoprotein (Mr 49 000), extracellularly as a complex-type glycoprotein (Mr 54 000). Deglycosylation of both forms with peptide: N-glycosidase led to proteins of identical app. Mr (41 000). The sequence of 26 N-terminal amino acids of rat alpha 1-antitrypsin was determined. A high content of polar amino acids was found. The partiall...

Alpha(1)-antitrypsin is a 45-kDa (394-residue) serine protease inhibitor synthesized by hepatocytes, which is released into the circulatory system and protects the lung from the actions of neutrophil elastase via a conformational transition within a dynamic inhibitory mechanism. Relatively common point mutations subvert this transition, causing polymerisation of α(1)-antitrypsin and deficiency ...

1. The unsaturated lipoids (serum antitrypsin) can be adsorbed from guinea pig serum, rabbit serum, and horse serum by kaolin, starch, agar, and bacteria. 2. Diphtheria toxin and cobra venom also reduce the serum antitrypsin, possibly because of their affinity for lipoids. 3. Anaphylatoxins represent sera rendered toxic by partial removal of serum antitrypsin. 4. The matrix of the protein split...