Bacterial lipopolysaccharide binds to CD14 in low-density domains of the monocyte-macrophage plasma membrane.

We report that gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binds to CD14 on lipid-enriched, low-density domains of the human monocyte-macrophage (THP-1 cell) plasma membrane. After brief incubation with [3H]LPS under conditions that prevent its internalization, THP-1 cells were disrupted using a detergent-free method and plasma membrane fragments were separated on density gradients. The [3H]LPS-binding fragments had low bouyant densities and were enriched, when compared to high-density membrane fragments, in CD14 (a receptor for LPS and other microbial molecules), p53/56lyn, GTP-binding proteins, ouabain-inhibitable Na+/K+ ATPase, sphingomyelin, and GM1 ganglioside. Monoclonal anti-CD14 antibody 60bca blocked [3H]LPS binding to these membrane fragments. Immunoelectron microscopic analysis identified clusters of CD14 on both large (200-1,000 nm) and small (< or = 200 nm) low-density membrane fragments. GM1 and CD14 were usually found on the same fragments, yet their distributions on those fragments infrequently overlapped. These cells seem to lack arrays of caveolae, the ordered membrane structures that harbor glycosylphosphatidyl-anchored proteins and GM1 in many other cell types. Finding that LPS binds to CD14 predominantly in low-density plasma membrane domains suggests, however, that discrete regions of the monocyte-macrophage plasma membrane may be organized to facilitate rapid responses to, and internalization of, molecules that bind CD14.