Induction of thrombosis in tumor vasculature represents an appealing strategy for combating cancer. Herein, we combined unique intrinsic coagulation properties of staphylocoagulase with new acquired functional potentials introduced by genetic engineering, to generate a novel bi-functional fusion protein consisting of truncated coagulase (tCoa) bearing an RGD motif on its C-terminus for cancer therapy. We demonstrated that free coagulase failed to elicit any significant thrombotic activity. Conversely, RGD delivery of coagulase retained coagulase activity and afforded favorable interaction of fusion proteins with prothrombin and αvβ3 endothelial cell receptors, as verified by in silico, in vitro, and in vivo experiments. Although free coagulase elicited robust coagulase activity in vitro, only targeted coagulase (tCoa-RGD) was capable of producing extensive thrombosis, and subsequent infarction and massive necrosis of CT26 mouse colon, 4T1 mouse mammary and SKOV3 human ovarian tumors in mice. Additionally, systemic injections of lower doses of tCoa-RGD produced striking tumor growth inhibition of CT26, 4T1 and SKOV3 solid tumors in animals. Altogether, the nontoxic nature, unique shortcut mechanism, minimal effective dose, wide therapeutic window, efficient induction of thrombosis, local effects and susceptibility of human blood to coagulase suggest tCoa-RGD fusion proteins as a novel and promising anticancer therapy for human trials.

Center for Nanobiology and Structural Biology Institute of Microbiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Zámek 136 373 33 Nové Hrady Czech Republic

Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology Faculty of Biological Science Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University Tabriz Iran

Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine Faculty of Medicine Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz Iran

Department of Medical Biotechnology Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz Iran

Drug Applied Research Center Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz Iran

Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Branišovská 1760 37005 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Faculty of Veterinary Sciences The University of Melbourne Werribee Victoria Australia

North Research Center Pasture Institute of Iran Tehran Amol Iran

Structural Biology and Bioinformatics Research Group Khayyam Bioeconomy Institute Mashhad Iran

University of Veterinary Medicine Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research Institute for Animal Breeding and Genetics Veterinärplatz 1 A 1210 Vienna Austria

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NGR (Asn-Gly-Arg)-targeted delivery of coagulase to tumor vasculature arrests cancer cell growth