Sulphation of proteins secreted by a human hepatoma-derived cell line. Sulphation of N-linked oligosaccharides on alpha 2HS-glycoprotein.

Several human glycoproteins, including alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, transferrin, caeruloplasmin and alpha 2HS-glycoprotein, synthesized by the hepatoma-derived cell line HepG2 were observed to contain covalently linked sulphate. These proteins were estimated to contain about 0.1 mol of sulphate/mol of protein. The most abundant of the sulphated glycoproteins, alpha 2HS-glycoprotein, was analysed in detail. All of the sulphate on this protein was attached to N-linked oligosaccharides which contained sialic acid and resisted release by endoglycosidase H. Several independent analytical approaches established that approx. 10% of the molecules of alpha 2HS-glycoprotein contained sulphate. Our results suggest that a number of human plasma proteins contain small amounts of sulphate linked to oligosaccharides.