Elevated level of hyaluronic acid binding protein in diabetic rats

Hyaluronic acid binding protein (HABP), an extracellular matrix glycoprotein which interacts specifically with hyaluronic acid (HA) has been purified to homogeneity by HA affinity chromatography. Antibody was raised against it and the specificity of antibody towards HABP was confirmed by western blot analysis. A specific and sensitive assay method has been developed adopting solid phase non-competitive double sandwich method of ELISA. This new assay method enabled us to determine the levels of HABP in different tissue extracts of normal, diabetic and reverse diabetic rats. A significant increase in the levels of HABP was observed in diabetic animals, which however attained normal levels with insulin treatment.