New receptor for human plasminogen on gram positive cocci.

180 bacterial strains representing 17 different species of gram positive cocci were tested for the ability to interact with human plasminogen. Receptors for plasminogen could be detected on 23/24 strains of S. pyogenes, 15/15 strains of S. equisimilis, 14/16 strains of human group G streptococci and 14/14 strains of S. pneumoniae. Eight of nineteen strains representing five species of alpha-hemolytic streptococci were also positive. S. equisimilis demonstrated the highest uptake with a median value of 58 per cent (20%-67%). On the other hand, all strains of S. agalactiae, the majority of S. faecalis and all S. aureus, S. epidermidis and S. saprophyticus strains tested were negative. The concentration of unlabelled plasminogen causing a 50 per cent reduction of bound tracer was between 50 and 150 mM. These estimates of the dissociation constant confirmed the specific nature of the interaction. Binding of plasminogen could be blocked by addition of plasmin-aprotinin complex, suggesting that plasminogen and plasmin bind to the same receptor. Binding was also blocked by the plasminogen fragment kringle 1-3, but not by miniplasminogen, a fragment containing kringle 5 and the B-chain region. As streptokinase interacts mainly with the B-chain of plasmin it is clear that the bacterial receptor for plasminogen is not identical to streptokinase.