Antibacterial activity of lysozyme and lactoferrin is inhibited by binding of advanced glycation-modified proteins to a conserved motif.

Why diabetes is associated with abnormally high susceptibility to infection remains unknown, although two major antibacterial proteins, lysozyme and lactoferrin, have now been shown to specifically bind glucose-modified proteins bearing advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Exposure to AGE-modified proteins inhibits the enzymatic and bactericidal activity of lysozyme, and blocks the bacterial agglutination and bacterial killing activities of lactoferrin. Peptide mapping revealed a single AGE binding domain in lysozyme and two AGE binding domains in lactoferrin; each domain contains a 17- to 18- amino acid cysteine-bounded loop motif (CX15-16C) that is markedly hydrophilic. Synthetic peptides corresponding to these motifs in lysozyme and lactoferrin exhibited AGE binding activity, and similar domains are also present in other antimicrobial proteins. These results suggest that elevated levels of AGEs in tissues and serum of diabetic patients may inhibit endogenous antibacterial proteins by binding to this conserved AGE-binding cysteine-bounded domain 'ABCD' motif, thereby increasing susceptibility to bacterial infections in the diabetic population.

Novel macrophage receptor for glucose-modified proteins is distinct from previously described scavenger receptors.

A high-affinity macrophage receptor has been identified that recognizes proteins modified by a common in vivo process, long-term nonenzymatic reaction of glucose with proteins (AGE proteins). This receptor for glucose-modified proteins is now shown to be distinct from previously described scavenger receptors, using competition and crosscompetition experiments between AGE-modified protein and a variety of in vitro-modified scavenger receptor ligands, including unmodified BSA, unmodified low-density lipoproteins (LDL), acetyl-LDL, maleyl-BSA, and formaldehyde-treated BSA. Furthermore, the specific pattern of AGE-protein receptor inhibition by the polyanionic compounds polyinosinic acid, polyadenylic acid, polyglutamic acid, polycytidylic acid, fucoidin, and heparin was distinctly different from that of acetyl-LDL. By thus selectively recognizing a time-dependent in vivo protein modification, macrophages may preferentially degrade senescent macromolecules, thereby having an important role in the regulation of extracellular protein turnover.

Accumulation of diabetic rat peripheral nerve myelin by macrophages increases with the presence of advanced glycosylation endproducts.

We have previously shown that increased nonenzymatic glycosylation occurs in peripheral nervous tissue of diabetic humans and animals, primarily on the PO-protein of peripheral nerve myelin. The pathophysiologic mechanism by which this biochemical alteration leads to myelin breakdown and removal is not as yet understood. In the present study we show that advanced glycosylation end-product (AGE) adducts that form during long-term exposure of peripheral nerve myelin proteins to glucose in vitro and in vivo markedly alter the way in which myelin interacts with elicited macrophages. In this interaction, macrophages appear to specifically recognize AGEs on myelin, since AGE-BSA competes nearly as effectively as AGE-myelin, while neither unmodified BSA nor unmodified myelin compete. The failure of yeast mannan to interfere with macrophage recognition of AGE-myelin suggests that the mannose/fucose receptor does not mediate this process. Recognition of AGE-protein by macrophages is associated with endocytosis, as demonstrated by resistance of cell-associated radioactivity to removal by trypsin action, and by low temperature inhibition of ligand accumulation in the cellular fraction. 125I-labeled myelin that had been incubated in vitro with 50 mM glucose for 8 wk reached a steady state accumulation within thioglycolate-elicited macrophages that was five times greater than that of myelin incubated without glucose. Similarly, myelin isolated from rats having diabetes for 1.5-2.0 years duration had a steady state level that was 9 times greater than that of myelin from young rats, and 3.5 times greater than that of myelin from age-matched controls. In contrast, myelin isolated from rats having diabetes for 4-5 wk had the same degree of accumulation observed with myelin of age-matched normal rats. These data suggest that the amount of increased nonenzymatic glycosylation observed in the myelin of short-term diabetic rats had not yet resulted in the significant accumulation of AGE-myelin present both in vitro and in the long-term diabetic rats. The disappearance of acid-insoluble radioactivity from within the cells and the appearance of acid-soluble radioactivity released into the medium were very similar for the two groups, suggesting that the striking difference in accumulation seen between normal myelin and AGE-myelin is due primarily to increased uptake. Formation of irreversible AGE-adducts on myelin appears to promote the recognition and uptake of the modified myelin by macrophages. This interaction between AGE-myelin and macrophages may initiate or contribute to the segmental demyelination associated with diabetes and the normal aging of peripheral nerve.

Leishmania promastigotes are recognized by the macrophage receptor for advanced glycosylation endproducts.

In this paper we demonstrate the involvement of the macrophage receptor for advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGE) in the phagocytosis of Leishmania major promastigotes. Blocking of this receptor with the ligand, AGE-BSA, leads to a 50% decrease in phagocytosis relative to controls, and a comparable decrease in the respiratory burst. The inhibition of phagocytosis by AGE-BSA was specific to leishmania. The binding of zymosan or C3bi-RBC and the phagocytosis of IgG-RBC or latex beads was not affected by the presence of AGE-BSA. Blocking of both the AGE receptor and CR3 decreases leishmania binding by nearly 90%, and reduces the respiratory burst by 80%, indicating that the two receptors account for the bulk of L. tropica promastigote recognition and uptake by the macrophage.

Endothelial receptor-mediated binding of glucose-modified albumin is associated with increased monolayer permeability and modulation of cell surface coagulant properties.

Advanced glycosylation end products (AGE) of proteins accumulate in the vasculature with diabetes and aging, and are thought to be associated with vascular complications. This led us to examine the interaction of AGE-BSA as a prototype of this class of nonenzymatically glycosylated proteins subjected to further processing, with endothelium. Incubation of 125I-AGE-BSA with cultured bovine endothelium resulted in time-dependent, saturable binding that was half-maximal at a concentration of approximately 100 nM. Although unlabeled normal BSA was not a competitor, unlabeled AGE-BSA was an effective competitor of 125I-AGE-BSA-endothelial cell interaction. In addition, AGE modification of two alternative proteins, hemoglobin and ribonuclease, rendered them inhibitors of 125I-AGE-BSA binding to endothelium, although the native, unmodified forms of these proteins were not. At 37 degrees C, binding of 125I-AGE-BSA or gold-labeled AGE-BSA was followed by internalization and subsequent segregation either to a lysosomal compartment or to the endothelial-derived matrix after transcytosis. Exposure of endothelium to AGE-BSA led to perturbation of two important endothelial cell homeostatic properties, coagulant and barrier function. AGE-BSA downregulated the anticoagulant endothelial cofactor thrombomodulin, and induced synthesis and cell surface expression of the procoagulant cofactor tissue factor over the same range of concentrations that resulted in occupancy of cell surface AGE-BSA binding sites. In addition, AGE-BSA increased endothelial permeability, resulting in accelerated passage of an inert macromolecular tracer, [3H]inulin, across the monolayer. These results indicate that AGE derivatives of proteins, potentially important constituents of pathologic vascular tissue, bind to specific sites on the endothelial cell surface and modulate central endothelial cell functions. The interaction of AGE-modified proteins with endothelium may play an important role in the early stages of increased vascular permeability, as well as vessel wall-related abnormalities of the coagulation system, characteristic of diabetes and aging.

Human and rat mesangial cell receptors for glucose-modified proteins: potential role in kidney tissue remodelling and diabetic nephropathy.

Advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) are derived from the nonenzymatic addition of glucose to proteins. AGEs have been found to accumulate on tissue proteins in patients with diabetes, and their accumulation is thought to play a role in the development of diabetic complications. The finding that macrophages and endothelial cells contain AGE-specific receptors led us to examine whether mesangial cells (MCs) also possess a mechanism for recognizing and processing AGEs. Membrane extracts isolated from rat and human MCs were found to bind AGE-bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a saturable fashion, with a binding affinity of 2.0 +/- 0.4 x 10(6) M-1 (500 nM). The binding was specific for the AGE adduct, since AGE-modified collagen I and ribonuclease both competitively inhibited 125I-AGE-BSA binding to MC membranes, while the unmodified proteins did not compete. Binding of AGE proteins was followed by slow internalization and degradation of the ligand. Ligand blotting of MC membrane extracts demonstrated three distinct AGE-binding membrane proteins of 50, 40, and 30 kD. Growth of MCs on various AGE-modified matrix proteins resulted in alterations in MC function, as demonstrated by enhanced production of fibronectin and decreased proliferation. These results point to the potential role that the interaction of AGE-modified proteins with MCs may play in vivo in promoting diabetic kidney disease.

Advanced glycosylation endproducts on erythrocyte cell surface induce receptor-mediated phagocytosis by macrophages. A model for turnover of aging cells.

Glucose can react nonenzymatically with amino groups of proteins to form covalent Amadori products. With time these adducts undergo further rearrangements to form irreversible advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGE), which accumulate with protein age. A specific AGE, 2-(2-furoyl)-4(5)-(2-furanyl)-1H-imidazole (FFI), has been identified on proteins in vivo. We have recently shown that a macrophage receptor specifically recognizes and internalizes proteins modified by AGE such as FFI, thus preferentially degrading senescent macromolecules. Reasoning that cellular turnover may be mediated by macrophage recognition of AGE-membrane proteins, we prepared human RBCs with FFI attached chemically. Human monocytes were incubated with either FFI-RBCs, IgG-opsonized RBCs, or PBS-treated RBCs. Erythrophagocytosis of FFI-RBCs was significantly higher than that of PBS-RBCs (55 vs. 4%; p less than 0.0025) and almost as high as that of IgG-RBCs (70%), and was competitively inhibited by AGE-BSA. AGE-RBCs were also prepared by incubating RBCs with various sugars. Human monocytes showed a 15% ingestion of glucose-RBCs, and a 26% ingestion of glucose-6-phosphate-RBCs, compared to 6% for PBS-RBCs. Similarly, diabetic mouse RBCs were phagocytosed by nearly three times more cells (21%) than normal mouse RBCs when exposed to syngeneic mouse macrophages. This phagocytosis was competitively inhibited (70%) by addition of excess AGE-BSA. The in vivo half-life of 51Cr-labeled mouse FFI-RBCs injected into syngeneic mice was reduced to 7 d, as compared to a half-life of 20 d for the controls. These data suggest that the macrophage receptor for the removal of glucose-modified proteins may also mediate the endocytosis of RBCs with AGE formed on their surface, and thus be responsible in part for the removal of some populations of aging cells.

Two novel rat liver membrane proteins that bind advanced glycosylation endproducts: relationship to macrophage receptor for glucose-modified proteins.

Advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs), the glucose-derived adducts that form nonenzymatically and accumulate on tissue proteins, are implicated in many chronic complications associated with diabetes and aging. We have previously described a monocyte/macrophage surface receptor system thought to coordinate AGE protein removal and tissue remodeling, and purified a corresponding 90-kD AGE-binding protein from the murine RAW 264.7 cell line. To identify AGE-binding proteins in normal animals, the tissue distribution of 125I-AGE rat serum albumin taken up from the blood was determined in rats in vivo. These uptake studies demonstrated that the liver was a major site of AGE protein sequestration. Using a solid-phase assay system involving the immobilization of solubilized membrane proteins onto nitrocellulose to monitor binding activity, and several purification steps including affinity chromatography over an AGE bovine serum albumin matrix, two rat liver membrane proteins were isolated that specifically bound AGEs, one migrating at 60 kD (p60) and the other at 90 kD (p90) on SDS-PAGE. NH2-terminal sequence analysis revealed no significant homology between these two proteins nor to any molecules available in sequence databases. Flow cytometric analyses using avian antibodies to purified rat p60 and p90 demonstrated that both proteins are present on rat monocytes and macrophages. Competition studies revealed no crossreactivity between the two antisera; anti-p60 and anti-p90 antisera prevented AGE-protein binding to rat macrophages when added alone or in combination. These results indicate that rat liver contains at least two novel and distinct proteins that recognize AGE-modified macromolecules, although p90 may be related to the previously described 90-kD AGE receptor isolated from RAW 264.7 cells. The constitutive expression of AGE-binding proteins on rat monocytes and macrophages, and the sequestration of circulating AGE-modified proteins by the liver, provides further evidence in support of a role for these molecules in the normal removal of proteins marked as senescent by accumulated glucose-derived covalent addition products, or AGEs.

Differential regulation of transforming growth factor beta and interleukin 2 genes in human T cells: demonstration by usage of novel competitor DNA constructs in the quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

The regulation of mRNA encoding transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) and interleukin 2 (IL-2) in normal human T cells was explored using novel competitor DNA constructs in the quantitative polymerase chain reaction and accessory cell-independent T cell activation models. Our experimental design revealed the following: (a) TGF-beta mRNA and IL-2 mRNA are regulated differentially in normal human T cells, quiescent or signaled with the synergistic combinations of: sn-1,2-dioctanoylglycerol and ionomycin or anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) and anti-CD2 mAb; (b) the steady-state level of TGF-beta mRNA in the stimulated T cells, in contrast to that of IL-2 mRNA, is increased by the immunosuppressant cyclosporine (CsA); and (c) the paradoxical effect of CsA on TGF-beta mRNA levels is also appreciable at the level of production of functionally active TGF-beta protein. Our findings, in addition to demonstrating the utility of the competitor DNA constructs for the precise quantification of immunoregulatory cytokines, suggest a novel and unifying mechanistic basis for the immunosuppression and some of the complications (e.g., renal fibrosis) associated with CsA usage.

A novel addition to the T cell repertory. Cell surface expression of tumor necrosis factor/cachectin by activated normal human T cells.

Expression of the pluripotent molecule TNF in a focused and antigen-restricted fashion might provide an advantage to the host organism. Given the central role of T cells in antigen-specific immunity, we examined whether activated T cells express TNF on their cell surface. FACS analysis of highly purified normal human T cells labeled with an anti-TNF mAb revealed that T cells express cell surface TNF when signaled with the synergistic combination of a calcium ionophore, ionomycin, and a protein kinase C activator, 12-o-tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate. Cell surface radioiodination studies of stimulated T cells demonstrated the presence of 26-kD transmembrane protein, a size predicted by TNF cDNA and different from that of the 17-kD secreted TNF molecule. The induced cell surface expression of TNF could be blocked with cyclosporine and/or methylprednisolone, and Northern analysis for TNF-specific transcripts revealed that this inhibitory effect occurs pretranslationally. Our demonstration for the first time that stimulated normal human T cells display cell surface TNF provides a mechanistic basis for the realization of effects of TNF in an antigen-specific fashion.

Advanced glycosylation endproduct-specific receptors on human and rat T-lymphocytes mediate synthesis of interferon gamma: role in tissue remodeling.

During normal aging and in chronic diabetes the excessive accumulation of reactive glucose-protein or glucose-lipid adducts known as advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) has been shown to induce tissue dysfunction, in part through interaction with AGE-specific receptors on monocyte/macrophages and other cells. Recognizing that circulating lymphocytes trafficking through tissues interact with tissue AGEs, we searched for the expression of AGE-binding sites on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. Resting rat and human T cells bound 125I-AGE-albumin with an affinity of 7.8 x 10(7) M-1, whereas, after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) for 48 h, binding affinity increased to 5.8 x 10(8) M-1. Flow cytometric analysis of resting rat T cells using polyclonal antibodies raised against rat liver AGE-binding proteins (p60 and p90) revealed the constitutive expression of both immunoreactivities. The number of resting CD4+ and CD8+ T cells positive for anti-p60 antibody binding (34.2 and 58.5%, respectively) increased to 92 and 90% of cells after 48-h stimulation with PHA. Exposure of PHA-activated T lymphocytes to AGE-albumin enhanced expression of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) mRNA 10-fold and induced greater elaboration of the mature protein than did exposure to unmodified protein or PHA treatment alone. These data indicate that T cells contain an inducible system of surface receptors for AGE-modified proteins, and that receptor occupancy is linked to lymphokine production. This T cell AGE-receptor system might serve to target lymphocytes to AGE-rich tissues and involve them in the regulation of tissue homeostasis either by assisting in macrophage-dependent clearance of AGE-proteins, or by exerting direct antiproliferative action on mesenchymal cells. Under conditions of excessive AGE-protein and AGE lipid accumulation (e.g., aging and diabetes), enhanced production of AGE-induced IFN-gamma may accelerate immune responses that contribute to tissue injury.

Aminoguanidine prevents diabetes-induced arterial wall protein cross-linking.

Age-associated increases in collagen cross-linking and accumulation of advanced glycosylation products are both accelerated by diabetes, suggesting that glucose-derived cross-link formation may contribute to the development of chronic diabetic complications as well as certain physical changes of aging. Aminoguanidine, a nucleophilic hydrazine compound, prevented both the formation of fluorescent advanced nonenzymatic glycosylation products and the formation of glucose-derived collagen cross-links in vitro. Aminoguanidine administration to rats was equally effective in preventing diabetes-induced formation of fluorescent advanced nonenzymatic glycosylation products and cross-linking of arterial wall connective tissue protein in vivo. The identification of aminoguanidine as an inhibitor of advanced nonenzymatic glycosylation product formation now makes possible precise experimental definition of the pathogenetic significance of this process and suggests a potential clinical role for aminoguanidine in the future treatment of chronic diabetic complications.

Cachectin/TNF and IL-1 induced by glucose-modified proteins: role in normal tissue remodeling.

Proteins undergo a series of nonenzymatic reactions with glucose over time to form advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs). Macrophages have a receptor that recognizes the AGE moiety and mediates the uptake and degradation of AGE proteins. This removal process is associated with the production and secretion of cachectin (tumor necrosis factor) and interleukin-1, two cytokines with diverse and seemingly paradoxical biological activities. The localized release and action of these cytokines could account for the coordinated removal and replacement of senescent extracellular matrix components in normal tissue homeostasis.

Hemoglobin-AGE: a circulating marker of advanced glycosylation.

Advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) form spontaneously from glucose-derived Amadori products and accumulate on long-lived tissue proteins. AGEs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of several of the complications of aging and diabetes, including atherosclerosis and renal disease. With the use of recently developed AGE-specific antibodies, an AGE-modified form of human hemoglobin has been identified. Termed hemoglobin-AGE (Hb-AGE), this modified species accounts for 0.42 percent of circulating hemoglobin in normal individuals but increases to 0.75 percent in patients with diabetes-induced hyperglycemia. In a group of diabetic patients treated with the advanced glycosylation inhibitor aminoguanidine, Hb-AGE levels decreased significantly over a 1-month period. Hemoglobin-AGE measurements may provide an index of long-term tissue modification by AGEs and prove useful in assessing the contribution of advanced glycosylation to a variety of diabetic and age-related complications.

Macrophage/monocyte receptor for nonenzymatically glycosylated protein is upregulated by cachectin/tumor necrosis factor.

Proteins of extracellular matrix undergo over time multiple reactions with glucose to form advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) which are highly active in protein crosslinking, and have been implicated in tissue damage associated with aging and diabetes. A macrophage/monocyte receptor for AGE moieties mediates the uptake of AGE-modified proteins by a process that also induces cachectin/tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-1 secretion. Reasoning that cytokines might regulate this AGE-receptor system, we have evaluated the effect of cachectin/TNF, IL-1, and IFN-gamma on AGE-protein processing. We report that cachectin/TNF induced a severalfold enhancement of binding, endocytosis, and degradation of AGE-BSA by both murine peritoneal macrophages and human blood monocytes in vitro, and that cachectin/TNF enhanced the rate of disappearance of AGE-modified red blood cells in vivo. IL-1 and IFN-gamma alone did not increase AGE processing, but IFN-gamma consistently enhanced cachectin/TNF-induced changes in AGE-receptor kinetics. Similar effects were induced by AGE-BSA and FFI-BSA, a chemically synthesized AGE, when used as macrophage stimulants, possibly via cachectin/TNF induction. All upregulatory responses were blocked by anticachectin/TNF monoclonal antibody. These data suggest that AGE-induced cachectin/TNF, in addition to influencing tissue regeneration and remodelling, may also normally regulate the disposal of tissue damaging AGE-proteins through an autocrine upregulation.

Receptor-specific induction of insulin-like growth factor I in human monocytes by advanced glycosylation end product-modified proteins.

Normal tissue homeostasis requires a finely balanced interaction between phagocytic scavenger cells (such as monocytes and macrophages) that degrade senescent material and mesenchymal cells (such as fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells), which proliferate and lay down new extracellular matrix. Macrophages and monocytes express specific surface receptors for advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs), which are covalently attached adducts resulting from a series of spontaneous nonenzymatic reactions of glucose with tissue proteins. Receptor-mediated uptake of AGE-modified proteins induces human monocytes to synthesize and release cytokines (TNF and IL-1), which are thought to contribute to normal tissue remodeling by mechanisms not entirely understood. We now report that AGEs also induce human monocytes to generate the potent progression growth factor insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), known to stimulate proliferation of mesenchymal cells. After in vitro stimulation with AGE-modified proteins, normal human blood monocytes express IGF-IA mRNA leading to the secretion of IGF-IA prohormone. The signal for IGF-IA mRNA induction seems to be initiated via the monocyte AGE-receptor, and to be propagated in an autocrine fashion via either IL-1 beta or PDGF. These data introduce a novel regulatory system for IGF-I, with broad in vivo relevance, and provide an essential link to the chain of events leading from the spontaneously formed tissue AGEs, hypothesized to act as markers of protein senescence, to their replacement and to tissue remodeling by the locally controlled induction of growth factors.

Depletion of reactive advanced glycation endproducts from diabetic uremic sera using a lysozyme-linked matrix.

Diabetic uremic sera contain excessive amounts of reactive advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), which accelerate the vasculopathy of diabetes and end-stage renal disease. To capture in vivo-derived toxic AGEs, high affinity AGE-binding protein lysozyme (LZ) was linked to a Sepharose 4B matrix. Initial studies showed that > 80% of 125I-AGE-BSA was retained by the LZ matrix, compared with < 10% retained by a control matrix. More than 60% of AGE-lysine was captured by the LZ matrix, and the LZ-bound fraction retained immunoreactivity and cross-linking activity, but had little intrinsic fluorescence (370/440 nm). After passage through the LZ matrix, AGE levels in diabetic sera (0.37+/-0.04 U/mg) were significantly reduced to a level (0.09+/-0.01 U/mg; n = 10; P < 0. 0001) comparable with the level of normal human serum, whereas total protein absorption was < 3%. The AGE-enriched serum fraction exhibited cross-linking activity, which was completely prevented by aminoguanidine. Among numerous LZ-bound proteins in diabetic uremic sera, three major proteins "susceptible" to AGE modification were identified: the immunoglobulin G light chain, apolipoprotein J (clusterin/SP-40,40), and the complement 3b beta chain. These findings indicate that the LZ-linked AGE affinity column may serve as an efficient method for the depletion of toxic AGEs from sera, including specific AGE-modified proteins that may be linked to altered immunity, lipoprotein metabolism, and accelerated vasculopathy in renal failure patients with or without diabetes.

Receptor-mediated interactions of advanced glycosylation end products with cellular components within diabetic tissues.

AGEs are nonenzymatically glycosylated adducts of proteins that accumulate in vascular tissues with aging and at an accelerated rate in people with diabetes; AGEs are closely linked to tissue damage due to their high reactivity in protein cross-linking. A macrophage-monocyte receptor system for AGE moieties is shown to mediate the uptake of AGE-modified proteins by a process that also induces cachectin-TNF, IL-1, IGF-I, and PDGF secretion. Thus, in addition to removing senescent glucose-modified proteins and cells, AGE-mediated release of growth-promoting factors may represent a mechanism by which macrophages signal mesenchymal cells the need for replacement of senescent proteins. The age of the macrophage correlates inversely with the binding and removal capacity of the AGE receptor, possibly preventing the clearance of cross-linked proteins and the compounding aging-related tissue damage. In addition to monocyte and macrophages, other cells express similar receptors for AGE-proteins, including endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and mesangial cells. Endothelial cell AGE-receptors mediate transcytosis of AGEs to the subendothelium, induce increased permeability, and enhance endothelium-dependent procoagulant activity. Renal mesangial AGE receptors mediate PDGF-dependent extracellular matrix protein production. Fibroblast AGE receptors may influence cellular proliferation by EGF and EGF-receptor regulation. These findings, in connection with the known abundance of AGEs in aged and diabetic tissues, indicate that AGE-ligand-receptor interactions are crucial for the development of age- and diabetes-related vascular tissue and renal pathology.

Recent progress in advanced glycation and diabetic vascular disease: role of advanced glycation end product receptors.

Advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) form principally from the rearrangement of early glycation products, i.e., Amadori products, which produce a class of stable moieties that possess distinctive chemical crosslinking and biological properties. It has been generally believed that proteins with half-lives of longer than a few weeks are most susceptible to advanced glycosylation and that the highest levels of AGEs occur on proteins that comprise the long-lived structural components of connective tissue matrix and basement membrane.

Measurement of glycosylated amino acids and peptides from urine of diabetic patients using affinity chromatography.

An affinity chromatography system has been developed that retains glycosylated amino acids and peptides. Using this system, synthetic 14C-glycosylated lysine (reduced with NaB3H4) was completely separated from a mixture of reduced 14C-glycosylated lysine and unmodified 3H-lysine. Amino acid analysis of the retained peak from hydrolyzed human diabetic hemoglobin previously reduced with NaB3H4 revealed an equimolar mixture of glycosylated valine and glycosylated lysine, in agreement with previously published data obtained using other methodologies. These data demonstrate that in alkaline solution, the NaB3H4-reducible breakdown products of nonenzymatically glycosylated proteins are adsorbed to m-aminophenyl boronic acid immobilized on Bio-Gel P-6, while nonglycosylated amino acids are not. This affinity chromatography system should facilitate the rapid evaluation of nonenzymatic glycosylation in a large number of diabetic tissues. Levels of retained compounds in urine from diabetic and normal patients were determined by measuring ninhydrin-positive material. Amino acid analysis of NaB3H4-reduced hydrolysates of these peaks showed that glycosylated lysine was the major borohydride-reducible adduct present (67%--86%). Linear regression analysis showed that the quantity of excreted compounds in normals correlated with body weight (r = 0.63). The mean level (mumol leucine-equivalent/24 h/kg body weight) in diabetics was over 1.5 times that found in urine from normal subjects (P < 0.005).