Asialoglycoprotein receptor mediates the toxic effects of an asialofetuin-diphtheria toxin fragment A conjugate on cultured rat hepatocytes.

We have constructed a toxic hybrid protein that is recognized by asialoglycoprotein (ASGP) receptors of cultured rat hepatocytes. The conjugate consists of fragment A of diphtheria toxin (DTA) linked by a disulfide bond to asialofetuin (ASF). This conjugate is highly toxic, inhibiting protein synthesis in primary rat hepatocytes at concentrations as low as 10 pM. The ASF-DTA conjugate was 600 and 1800 times as toxic as diphtheria toxin and DTA, respectively, on primary rat hepatocytes. The ASGP receptor recognizes galactose-terminated proteins. We tested a series of glycoproteins for their ability to block the action of the ASF-DTA conjugate. Fetuin and orosomucoid, two glycoproteins with terminal sialic acid on their oligosaccharide chains, did not block the action of the conjugate. Their galactose-terminated asialo derivatives, ASF and asialoorosomucoid, as expected, did block the action of the conjugate. The N-acetylglucosaminyl-terminated derivative (asialogalactoorsomucoid) had no appreciable effect on the activity of the conjugate. We tested the ASF-DTA conjugate on six cell types; except for primary rat hepatocytes, none of them were affected by a high concentration (10 nM) of ASF-DTA conjugate. A fetuin-DTA conjugate was less toxic by a factor of 300 than the ASF-DTA conjugate and exerted its effects primarily through non-receptor-mediated mechanisms. The highly toxic ASF-DTA conjugate is cell-type specific, and its action is mediated by a well-characterized receptor, whose mechanism of receptor-ligand internalization has been extensively investigated.