Isolation of a major cell surface glycoprotein from fibroblasts.

A cell surface component has been isolated in partially purified form from cultured chick embryo and chick heart fibroblasts. This glycoprotein is similar to a protein recently reported to be present at the surface of normal cells, and missing after neoplastic transformation. It is a major cell surface glycoprotein that is synthesized by cultured fibroblasts, but is not collagen. It is shown to be markedly trypsin-sensitive, and its recovery from the cell surface is dependent on cell density. It is excluded from Sephadex G-200, but is not rapidly sedimented by ultracentrifugation, and has an apparent molecular weight of 220,000. The isolation of this cell surface glycoprotein may now provide a means of determining its function.