Goodpasture antigen of the glomerular basement membrane: localization to noncollagenous regions of type IV collagen.

The glomerular basement membrane antigen in Goodpasture syndrome is a collagenase-resistant molecule with a monomer molecular weight of about 26,000. Type IV collagen isolated from glomerular basement membrane contains collagenase-resistant sequences within its structure. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and chemical analysis were used to demonstrate that the collagenase-resistant sequences of type IV collagen contain Goodpasture antigen.