Plasma membrane carbohydrate composition and lectin receptors of lymphocytes from pro-lymphocytic leukaemia.

The carbohydrate composition of a purified plasma membrane fraction derived from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of a patient with a pro-lymphocytic leukaemia has been investigated and compared to the expression of lectin receptors at the membrane surface of the intact cell. The presence of galactose, mannose, fucose, glucose, sialic acid, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid substituted O-glycosidic linked beta-D-galactopyranosyl (1 leads to 3) N-acetyl-D-galactosamine was confirmed on membrane glycoconjugates by gas chromatography. A lectin induced agglutinin assay using intact leukaemia cells demonstrated the accessibility of different lectin receptors at the native membrane surface, while the peanut agglutinin and the Helix pomatia receptor was only accessible after neuraminidase treatment.