Interaction of recombinant rat placental lactogen-I with extracellular domains of prolactin receptors from three species.

Rat placental lactogen-I (rPL-I), expressed in rat uteri at midpregnancy, belongs to the GH/PRL/cytokine family of hormones (Wallis, 1992), all members of which exhibit a similar mechanism of receptor activation. Lactogenic activity of rPL-I as determined by Nb2 lymphoma cell bioassay was slightly higher than that of hGH. rPL-I was capable also of stimulating beta-casein production in mouse HC-11 cells. Competitive binding experiments using [125I]hGH or [125I]bPL and purified prolactin receptor extracellular domains (PRLR-ECDs) from rat (r), rabbit (rb), and bovine (b) showed rPL-I to be 12, 40, and 7-fold, respectively, less effective than hGH when competing with [125I]hGH. Displacement of [125I]bPL by rPL-I from rPRLR-ECD and rbPRLR-ECD was also 4-, and 30-fold less effective, respectively, than that by bPL. rPL-I did not compete at all with [125I]bPL for binding to bPRLR-ECD. In contrast, competitive binding experiments with [125I]hGH to a microsomal fraction of Nb2 cells showed rPL-I to be slightly more active than hGH. The stoichiometries of the complexes formed by rPL-I with rbPRLR-ECD, rPRLR-ECD, and bPRLR-ECD were studied by gel filtration. Whereas a 1:1 complex was formed between rPL-I and rPRLR-ECD and rbPRLR-ECD, no complex could be detected between rPL-I and bPRLR-ECD. The present results support the hypothesis that transient forms of a homodimer complex may be sufficient to initiate the biological signal, despite its short half-life.