The second component of human complement: detection of two hemolytic forms in plasma by pH variation.

The second component of human complement (C2) in pseudoglobulin prepared from normal plasma eluted as a single peak at high conductivity (30 mS) and pH 4.5 from the cationic exchangers S-Sepharose or Mono S in the Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) System. The C2 was stable at pH 4.5 and 0 degrees C if enzyme inhibitors were used and the pH was raised to 6.0 after elution from the columns. After rechromatography on Mono S in the FPLC System at the median isoelectric point of 5.5 or pH 6.0, the C2 eluted as two distinct hemolytic forms: the first peaked at 16 mS, the second at 30 mS. The two forms of C2 did not correlate with the allotypic variant of C2 in individual, normal human plasmas. After elution at pH 4.5 from S-Sepharose and rechromatography at pH 5.5 or 6.0 on Mono S, the hemolytic activities of the two forms in individual plasmas eluted in 3 patterns: 1) high activity at 16 mS, low activity at 30 mS; 2) low activity at 16 mS, high activity at 30 mS; 3) high activity at 16 mS, high activity at 30 mS. The specific activities of both forms were approximately the same; both eluted the same after gel filtration at pH 5.5, and both had the same pattern on SDS-PAGE and immunoblots. The pattern of elution was characteristic for each individual plasma, and the first hemolytic form appeared to elute independent of the second form. At pH 4.5, C2 was completely separated from Factor B, a functionally and structurally similar protein of the alternative complement pathway, whereas at pH 5.5 or 6.0, the two proteins eluted together. From these results, the two forms of hemolytic C2 can be purified for structural and functional analyses.