Albumin interacts specifically with a 60-kDa microvascular endothelial glycoprotein.

Confluent monolayers of microvascular endothelial cells, derived from the rat epididymal fat pad and grown in culture, were radioiodinated by using the lactoper-oxidase method. Their radioiodinated surface polypeptides were detected by NaDodSO4/PAGE (followed by autoradiography) and were characterized by both lectin affinity chromatography and protease digestion to identify the proteins involved in albumin binding. All detected polypeptides were sensitive to Pronase digestion, whereas several polypeptides were resistant to trypsin. Pronase treatment of the cell monolayer significantly reduced the specific binding of radioiodinated rat serum albumin, but trypsin digestion did not. Limax flavus, Ricinus communis, and Triticum vulgaris agglutinins competed significantly with radioiodinated rat serum albumin binding, whereas other lectins did not. A single 60-kDa glyco-protein was precipitated in common by these three lectins and was trypsin-resistant and Pronase-sensitive. Rat serum albumin affinity chromatography columns weakly but specifically bound a 60-kDa polypeptide from cell lysates derived from radioiodinated cell monolayers. These findings indicate that the 60-kDa glycoprotein is directly involved in a specific interaction of albumin with the cultured microvascular endothelial cells used in these experiments.