Plasma membranes from normal and chronic myeloid leukemic granulocytes: isolation and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis.

Normal human granulocytes obtained by Ficoll-Hypaque sedimentation were subjected to mild hypotonic shock and disruption by shear. The homogenate was fractionated by differential centrifugation and equilibrium ultracentrifugation to yield a plasma membrane preparation constituting 1% of the total cellular protein and enriched fifteen- and six-fold in alkaline phosphatase and Mg2+-adenosine triphosphatase activities, respectively. Granulocytes obtained from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) were identically processed. The protein constituents of both the normal and CML granulocyte plasma membranes were resolved by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Comparison of the stained gels revealed CML-associated quantitative changes in four out of the fifteen protein spots examined. Thus, this analysis has permitted identification of those protein moieties that deserve attention for further isolation and purification.