Molecular behavior adapts to context: heparanase functions as an extracellular matrix-degrading enzyme or as a T cell adhesion molecule, depending on the local pH.

Migration of lymphocytes into inflammatory sites requires their adhesion to the vascular endothelium and subendothelial extracellular matrix (ECM). The ensuing penetration of the ECM is associated with the expression of ECM-degrading enzymes, such as endo-beta-D glucuronidase (heparanase), which cleaves heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans. We now report that, depending on the local pH, a mammalian heparanase can function either as an enzyme or as an adhesion molecule. At relatively acidified pH conditions, heparanase performs as an enzyme, degrading HS. In contrast, at the hydrogen ion concentration of a quiescent tissue, heparanase binds specifically to HS molecules without degrading them, and thereby anchors CD4+ human T lymphocytes. Thus, the local state of a tissue can regulate the activities of heparanase and can determine whether the molecule will function as an enzyme or as a proadhesive molecule.

Tumour necrosis factor-alpha interacts with laminin and functions as a pro-adhesive cytokine.

Certain cytokines, chemokines and growth factors interact with components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and, in particular, sulphated polysaccharides and proteoglycans. Recently, we demonstrated that tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), an inflammatory cytokine, can bind fibronectin (FN), a cell-adhesive glycoprotein of the ECM, and that TNF-alpha bound to FN enhances the binding of T cells to the glycoprotein. In the present study, we studied the interactions of TNF-alpha and laminin (LN), another glycoprotein present in basement membranes and extracellular matrices. 125I-labelled TNF-alpha was found to bind to immobilized LN, and more avidly to the E1 and P1 fragments of LN, which contain its integrin- and non-integrin-dependent cell-adhesive sites, suggesting that cryptic TNF-alpha-binding sites are exposed upon proteolytic fragmentation of LN by enzymes such as elastase or pepsin. The bound cytokine did not dissociate from the LN and its fragments during a 24-hr period, indicating that in vivo LN can serve to restrict TNF-alpha adjacent to inflammatory sites. The LN-associated TNF-alpha retained at least some of its biological activities, since both diffusible and, to a greater extent, LN-bound TNF-alpha elevated the beta 1-integrin-dependent adhesion to LN of phorbol ester-activated human CD4+ T cells. Thus, LN and TNF-alpha may act in concert to transmit synergistic activating signals to infiltrating leucocytes, and thereby regulate immune cell reactions in extravascular inflammatory tissue.

Reverse immunoaffinity chromatography: application to the purification of the 60- to 90-kDa gastric parietal cell autoantigen associated with autoimmune gastritis.

Previous attempts to purify autoantigens by affinity chromatography using the total IgG from autoantibody-positive sera have not been very successful. We describe here a novel method using parietal cell autoantibodies, isolated on a crude autoantigen immunoabsorbent column, for the purification of the 60- to 90-kDa gastric parietal cell antigen targeted in autoimmune gastritis. The 60- to 90-kDa parietal cell antigen was first enriched 2.5-fold from a 0.5% Triton X-100 extract of total pig gastric mucosal membranes by DEAE-Sepharose 4B chromatography. The fraction containing the 60- to 90-kDa antigen was directly coupled to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B to produce an immunoadsorbent column for the "reverse" purification of the specific parietal cell autoantibodies from pooled gastric parietal cell autoantibody-positive human sera. A 0.5% Triton X-100 extract of pig gastric mucosal membranes was initially precleared by sequential passage through Protein A-Sepharose 4B and normal human Ig-Sepharose 4B columns. The 60- to 90-kDa gastric parietal cell antigen (approximately 10 micrograms) was then purified from this precleared Triton X-100 membrane extract by affinity chromatography on a 1-ml column of purified autoantibody-Sepharose 4B, followed by preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophonesis. This method, incorporating a "reverse" immunoaffinity chromatography step, has general applicability for the purification of tissue autoantigens using highly specific autoantibodies present in the sera of humans and experimental animals with a variety of other autoimmune diseases.

Monoclonal antibodies specific for the core protein of the beta-subunit of the gastric proton pump (H+/K+ ATPase). An autoantigen targetted in pernicious anaemia.

The gastric H+/K(+)-transporting adenosine triphosphatase (H+/K+ ATPase) (proton pump) consists of a catalytic alpha-subunit and a recently proposed 60-90-kDa glycoprotein beta-subunit. Using dog gastric membranes as the antigen, we have produced two murine monoclonal antibodies, 4F11 (IgG1) and 3A6 (IgA), which are specific for the 60-90-kDa glycoprotein. The monoclonal antibodies (1) specifically stained the cytoplasm of unfixed and formalin-fixed dog gastric parietal cells; (2) specifically reacted by ELISA with gastric tubulovesicular membranes; (3) recognised epitopes located on the luminal face of parietal cell tubulovesicular membranes, the site of the proton pump, by immunogold electron microscopy; (4) immunoblotted a 60-90-kDa molecule from tubulovesicular membranes and a 35-kDa component from peptide N-glycosidase-F-treated membrane extracts; (5) immunoblotted the 60-90-kDa parietal cell autoantigen associated with autoimmune gastritis and pernicious anemia, purified by chromatography on parietal cell autoantibody- or tomato-lectin-Sepharose 4B affinity columns, and the 35-kDa protein core of this autoantigen; this autoantigen has amino acid sequence similarity to the beta-subunit of the related Na+/K(+)-transporting adenosine triphosphatase (Na+/K+ ATPase) [Toh et al. (1990) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 87, 6418-6422]; (6) co-precipitated a molecule of 95 kDa with the 60-90-kDa molecule from 125I-labelled detergent extracts of dog tubulovesicular membranes; and (7) co-purified the catalytic alpha-subunit of the H+/K+ ATPase with the 60-90-kDa molecule by immunoaffinity chromatography of tubulovesicular membrane extracts on a monoclonal antibody 3A6-Sepharose 4B column, indicating a physical association between the two molecules. These results provide further evidence that the 60-90-kDa glycoprotein is the beta-subunit of the gastric H+/K+ ATPase. We conclude that the monoclonal antibodies specifically recognise luminal epitopes on the 35-kDa core protein of the 60-90-kDa beta-subunit of the gastric proton pump, a major target molecule in autoimmune gastritis and pernicious anaemia. These monoclonal antibodies will be valuable probes to study the structure and function of this associated beta-subunit, as well as the ontogeny of the gastric proton pump.

The 60- to 90-kDa parietal cell autoantigen associated with autoimmune gastritis is a beta subunit of the gastric H+/K(+)-ATPase (proton pump).

Autoantibodies in the sera of patients with pernicious anemia recognize, in addition to the alpha subunit of the gastric H+/(+)-ATPase, an abundant gastric microsomal glycoprotein of apparent Mr 60,000-90,000. Herein we have colocalized the glycoprotein and the alpha subunit of the gastric H+/K(+)-ATPase to the tubulovesicular membranes of the parietal cell by immunogold electron microscopy. Moreover, the glycoprotein and the alpha subunit were coimmunoprecipitated, and copurified by immunoaffinity chromatography, with an anti-glycoprotein monoclonal antibody. The pig glycoprotein was purified by chromatography on tomato lectin-Sepharose, and five tryptic peptides from the purified glycoprotein were partially sequenced. The complete amino acid sequence, deduced from the nucleotide sequence of overlapping cDNA clones, showed 33% similarity to the sequence of the beta subunit of the pig kidney Na+/K(+)-ATPase. We therefore propose that the 60- to 90-kDa glycoprotein autoantigen is the beta subunit of the gastric H+/K(+)-ATPase and that the alpha and beta subunits of the proton pump are major targets for autoimmunization in autoimmune gastritis.

Gastric parietal cell antigens of 60-90, 92, and 100-120 kDa associated with autoimmune gastritis and pernicious anemia. Role of N-glycans in the structure and antigenicity of the 60-90-kDa component.

Thirty-four human sera containing parietal cell autoantibodies (PCA) specifically immunoprecipitated two antigens, with apparent molecular masses of 60-90 kDa and 100-120 kDa under nonreducing conditions and 60-90 kDa and 120-150 kDa under reducing conditions, from porcine gastric membrane extracts. A third antigen of 92 kDa was only observed in immunoprecipitates analyzed under reducing conditions. By immunoblotting, 24 of the 34 PCA-positive sera reacted with only the 60-90-kDa antigen, three reacted with a broad 60-120-kDa smear, one reacted only with a 92-kDa antigen and six did not react. Reactivity with the 60-90-kDa antigen was observed with gastric membranes from dog, pig, rat, and rabbit. Twenty PCA-negative sera did not react with these components by immunoprecipitation or immunoblotting. PCA reactivity with the 60-90-kDa antigen was abolished when the gastric membranes were (a) digested with Pronase, (b) reduced with 100 mM dithiothreitol, (c) treated with sodium periodate, or (d) digested with N-glycanase. The 60-90-kDa and 100-120-kDa components were insensitive to neuraminidase treatment. N-glycanase digestion of 125I-labeled antigens purified by immunoprecipitation and preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis collapsed the 60-90-kDa antigen to a sharp 34-kDa band; the 100-120-kDa component was unaffected. These observations suggest that (i) parietal cell antigens comprise three components of 60-90, 92, and 100-120 kDa; (ii) the epitopes differ in conformational sensitivity; (iii) the 60-90-kDa antigen is a conserved molecule comprising a 34-kDa core protein extensively glycosylated with N-linked oligosaccharides; (iv) sialic acid residues are not present in the 60-90- and 100-120-kDa molecules, and (v) the carbohydrate and protein moieties of the 60-90-kDa molecule are required for antibody binding.