Expression of full-length human pro-urokinase in mammary glands of transgenic mice.

Human pro-urokinase expressed in the mammary glands of transgenic animals is quickly activated and converted to urokinase by proteases that are present in the milk. Thus, it is nearly impossible to isolate full-sized pro-urokinase from the milk of transgenic animals. To solve this problem, we constructed transgenic mice that express human pro-urokinase and modified ecotin, which is a potent serine protease inhibitor from E.