Hooked to vitamin B12 since 1955: a historical perspective

In our pioneering work in 1956, two binders of vitamin B12 (B12) alias cobalamin (Cbl) were identified in gastric juice, S with slow electrophoretic mobility, a 70 kD protein with intrinsic factor (IF) activity and another rapid (R), not IF active but probable digestion product. Numerous sources contained a protein immunologically identical to R (haptocorrin, Hc). Another IF-active component (I) was found. Isoelectric focusing showed that S, I and R were assemblies of "isoproteins" with different pI's due to varying glycosidation. Isolation of S, I and R in microquantities was achieved in 1962 using a series of ion exchange chromatographies and gel filtration. Ponderable products were obtained in 1965-1966. The B12-IF complex was a dimer, contained 13% carbohydrate and showed a different absorption spectrum than B12. Using the Schilling test, B12 absorption was shown to require Ca(++), bound in vitro to the ileal receptor and IF, but most of Ca(++) could be removed with sialidase. The receptor-substrate complex contained Ca(++) and carbohydrate. The purified receptor was shown to contain two main subunits. The Imerslund-Gräsbeck syndrome was discovered 1958-1960; it is caused by mutations in either of two genes, cubilin or amnionless, which form the multiligand receptor cubam. Testicular biopsies during and after B12-treated deficiency showed remarkable improvement after therapy. Studies of the turnover of radioactive B12 revealed biliary and fecal excretion, enterohepatic circulation and allowed calculation of biological half-life and daily need. The B12 coenzymes largely behaved like B12. To study whether radiocobalt in B12 was representative of the rest of the B12 molecule, (32)P and (57)Co labeled hydroxocobalamins were biosynthesized and shown to behave identically when given simultaneously to rats. The complex metabolism of B12 explains the pathogenesis of B12 deficiencies. Some of its mechanisms are not restricted to B12, e.g. the endocytosis of B12-IF also applies to other macromolecules.