Binding of a bacterial acylpoly(1,3)galactoside to human blood leucocytes

The binding of a 34-kDa (mol. wt.) acylpoly(1,3)galactoside (APG) extracted from a membrane proteoglycan of Klebsiella pneumoniae to human blood leucocytes was investigated. APG is made of a long poly(1,3)galactose chain, a core-like region and a lipid moiety which comprises two glucosamine residues bound to a phosphate group and two beta OH myristic acids. Fluoresceinated APG was shown to bind preferentially to monocytes and to a lesser extent to polymorphonuclear neutrophils, as determined by flow cytometry. Binding of fluoresceinated APG was inhibited by unlabelled APG; it was concentration dependent, but not saturable, with rapid kinetics. It occurred at +4 degrees C but was markedly increased at 37 degrees C. It involved trypsin-sensitive molecules on the membrane of monocytes. Neither the parent proteoglycan nor lipopolysaccharide from K. pneumoniae or Salmonella minnesota competed for APG binding. A minor non-specific binding to lymphocytes, occurring predominantly on B cells, was observed. Unlike that of lipopolysaccharide, the APG binding was not blocked by polymyxin B sulphate. Interaction between the galactose chain of APG and the galactose receptor does not account for the binding of APG to monocytes because the galactose receptor (Mac-2) is expressed at high density on activated macrophages but not on monocytes. Despite its strong binding to human blood monocytes, APG displayed a much weaker activity than K. pneumoniae membrane proteoglycan with respect to induction of monocyte cytokine synthesis. When administered as a Technetium 99 conjugate, APG was shown to label inflammatory foci in experimental animals, and its property as a marker of macrophages is currently being evaluated in clinical trials.