skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Purification and characterization of the glycoprotein hormone. cap alpha. -subunit-like material secreted by HeLa cells

Journal Article · · Biochemistry; (United States)
OSTI ID:6469000

The protein secreted by HeLa cells that cross-reacts with antiserum developed against the ..cap alpha..-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has been purified approximately 30,000-fold from concentrated culture medium by organic solvent fractionation followed by ion exchange, gel filtration, and lectin affinity chromatography. The final preparation had a specific activity (by RIA) of 6.8 x 10/sup 5/ ng of ..cap alpha../mg of protein and appeared homogeneous by electrophoresis on reducing/denaturing polyacrylamide gels (SDS-PAGE). Amino acid analysis indicated that HeLa-..cap alpha.. had a composition very similar to that of the urinary hCG ..cap alpha..-subunit. However, comparison of hCG-..cap alpha.. and HeLa-..cap alpha.. demonstrated that the tumor-associated subunit was not identical with its normal counterpart. The purified tumor protein had an apparent molecular weight greater than that of the urinary ..cap alpha..-subunit when analyzed by SDS-PAGE, and this difference was even greater when a partially purified preparation was examined by an immunoblot technique (Western). Isoelectric focusing of the HeLa and hCG subunits demonstrated that the tumor protein had a lower pI. Immunoprecipitation and electrophoresis of ..cap alpha..-subunit from HeLa cultures labeled with (/sup 3/H)fucose indicated that the tumor subunit was fucosylated, whereas analysis of hCG-..cap alpha.. hydrosylates by HPLC confirmed previous reports that the placental subunit does not contain fucose. The results indicate that, regardless of whether or not a single ..cap alpha..-subunit gene is being expressed in both normal and neoplastic tissues, posttranslational modifications lead to a highly altered subunit in the tumor. The differences observed may be useful in diagnosing neoplastic vs hyperplastic conditions and may lend insight into the mechanism of ectopic hormone production by tumors.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha (USA)
OSTI ID:
6469000
Journal Information:
Biochemistry; (United States), Vol. 27:17
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Different processing of LH/hCG receptors in cultured rat luteal cells and murine Leydig tumor cells (MLTC-1)
Journal Article · Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1987 · Exp. Cell Res.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6469000

Development of an assay for a biomarker of pregnancy and early fetal loss
Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Environ. Health Perspect.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6469000

Characterization of rat leydig cell gonadotropin receptor structure by affinity cross-linking
Conference · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States) · OSTI ID:6469000