Identification and characterization of highly conserved antigenic determinants in the laminin molecule

1. Fragments P1 and E8, the result of two different enzymatic digestions of the laminin molecule, represent interaction sites of laminin with specific cell receptors. By using negative and positive affinity purification of a rabbit antiserum against mouse laminin we have generated antibodies to these two fragments. 2. Antibodies against P1 were able to immunoprecipitate fragment E8 from elastase-digested laminin. By liquid phase competition experiments we demonstrated that the epitopes shared by P1 and E8 are a minor portion of the antigenic determinants of P1. When we checked for the presence of these shared epitopes in the human laminin molecule, they were the major fraction of the interspecies antigenic conservation. 3. A similar approach using polyclonal antibodies against human laminin has confirmed these results. 4. The shared epitopes present in both mouse and human laminin molecules seem to be spatially determined, because antibodies against these sites did not bind to fully denatured laminin. 5. Since human and mouse laminin bind to cell receptors and to other extracellular matrix proteins from both species, we conclude that these antigenic determinants may represent the actual sites for at least some of these interactions.