Isolation of a novel glycoprotein from the urine of a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia.

Patient B. J. with chronic myelocytic leukemia excreted 0.5-1.1 g protein per day in the urine. Gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 showed about one-third of this protein to be in molecular weight range 20,000-40,000 (fraction BJC). BJC, prepared from 9 liters of urine by gel filtration, was chromatographed on carboxymethylcellulose. Two proteins were eluted from the resin in pure form (as shown by zone and immunoelectrophoresis) in yields representing 8 and 3 mg/liter of urine: BJC1 and BJC2. Their amino acid compositions were identical. BJC1 contained 61% carbohydrate (33% hexose, 11% sialic acid, 13% glucosamine, 5% galactosamine). BJC2 contained one-fourth to one-half as much of each carbohydrate. Molecular weight of BJC1 was estimated at 29,000 by gel filtration. Neither glycoprotein reacted with rabbit antiserum to normal human serum.Antiserum to BJC1 was made in the rabbit. Immunoelectrophoresis with this antiserum showed a faint precipitin line, corresponding in mobility to BJC1, in normal human plasma, and a stronger line in most leukemic plasmas. By immunodiffusion, BJC1 was not detectable in normal human urine, but a positive reaction occurred in the following conditions: leukemia, 64-72%; other types of disseminated neoplastic disease, 36-78%; regional ileitis, 45%; ulcerative colitis, 38%; tuberculosis, 33%; during the 1st wk after major surgery, 33%.BJC2 was found in the urine by immunoelectrophoresis in 10% of patients with neoplastic disease and was not observed in urine of other patients or in human plasma. Amino acid composition, carbohydrate content, and antigenic specificity indicate BJC1 is a previously unrecognized member of the system of normal human plasma glycoproteins. Like certain other glycoproteins, its plasma concentration frequently increases in patients with neoplastic disease, chronic inflammatory disease, or tuberculosis and after surgery. Because molecular weight is 29,000, increased plasma concentration readily causes its appearance in the urine.