Evidence that recombinant IL 1 alpha exhibits lectin-like specificity and binds to homogeneous uromodulin via N-linked oligosaccharides.

Uromodulin, a recently described immunosuppressive glycoprotein isolated from human pregnancy urine, has been shown to inhibit T cell proliferative assays dependent upon interleukin 1 (IL 1). We have also recently demonstrated that uromodulin binds specifically to IL 1. We now show that not only the biologic activity but also the binding affinity of uromodulin for recombinant IL 1 is dependent upon intact glycosylation. Furthermore, oligosaccharides isolated from pronase-digested uromodulin are immunosuppressive by themselves and are able to compete with native uromodulin for binding to IL 1. We conclude that recombinant IL 1 exhibits lectin-like specificity, and uromodulin is a biologically functional glycoprotein target of the lectin-like specificity of IL 1.