Characterization of a 75,000 mol. wt glycoprotein synthesized by guinea-pig T-lymphocytes: a possible homologue of Lyt-1 antigen.

A xenoantiserum raised in rabbits by immunization with strain 13 guinea-pig antigen-activated T-lymphocytes was previously found to recognize a non-immunoglobulin, 75,000 mol. wt glycoprotein synthesized by guinea-pig T-cells. This protein, p75, has been further characterized to determine its biochemical properties and its expression by various cell types. p75 was found to be a single-chain protein which could be bound by the lectin Lens culinaris hemagglutinin. It has an apparent mol. wt slightly greater than mu-chain as assessed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and could not be precipitated by anti-guinea-pig immunoglobulin reagents. It exhibited considerable charge heterogeneity during isoelectric focusing and was not affected by neuraminidase treatment, p75 was synthesized by thymus, spleen and lymph node cells, by antigen-stimulated T-cells from strain 13 and strain 2 guinea-pigs, and by guinea-pig B-cell L2C leukemia lines, but not by normal B-lymphocytes or macrophages. No differences between the isoelectric focusing patterns of p75 molecules isolated from different cell types could be demonstrated. The chemical properties of p75 and its expression by the cell types so far examined indicate that p75 is a possible candidate for the guinea-pig homologue of the murine Lyt-1 antigen.