[Electrophoretic analysis of urinary glycoproteins in diabetic nephropathy using peroxidase-lectins]

We examined the clinical usefulness determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by reaction with peroxidase-coupled lectins using urinary glycoproteins for diabetic nephropathy in 20 patients with diabetes mellitus. Lectins used were Triticum vulgaris (WGA), Phaseolus vulgaris (PHA-E4), Dolichos biflorus (DBA), and Lens culinaris (LCA), which have high affinity for beta 1----4N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc beta 1----4GlcNAc), N-acetyl-D-galactosamine (GalNAc), alpha-galactosamine (alpha-GalNAc), and alpha-mannose (alpha-Man) residues, respectively. Electrophoretic patterns of urinary glycoproteins clearly showed the presence of lectin-reactive glycoproteins with molecular weights lower than that of albumin. The molecular weight of the main bands reacted with WGA, PHA-E4 or LCA were 50,000 and 38,000, and increased with the progress of diabetic nephropathy. WGA reacted strongly with many glycoproteins having a wide range of molecular weights. LCA and PHA-E4 reacted preferentially with glycoproteins of molecular weights glycoproteins of molecular weights lower than 50,000, but no reaction was observed by DBA. These results suggest that low molecular urinary glycoproteins have abundant carbohydrate residues such as GlcNAc beta 1----4GlcNAc, GalNAc, and alpha-Man. The excretion of low molecular weight glycoproteins with high affinities for some lectins suggests functional impairment in diabetic nephropathy.