Antibodies recognizing different domains of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor

The receptor responsible for the transepithelial transport of IgA dimer antibodies is a transmembrane glycoprotein known as membrane secretory component (SCm). During transport, the membrane anchoring domain is cleaved and the ectoplasmic domain of the receptor (SCs) remains tightly bound to the IgA dimer in exosecretions. We have produced monoclonal antibodies with distinct specificities against both cytoplasmic and ectoplasmic epitopes of rabbit SCm. One antibody (anti-SC303) reacted both with SCm and free SCs but not with SCs bound to IgA dimer (SIgA). Therefore, it recognized an epitope close to the IgA dimer binding site. The other monoclonal antibody (anti-SC166), which was unable to react with SCs, bound to the 15-kDa cytoplasmic extension of the membrane-spanning domain of the receptor. A polyclonal antibody (GaR-SC), raised in a goat against rabbit milk SCs, reacted with a subpopulation of SCs not recognized by the anti-SC303 monoclonal antibody and in addition also reacted with covalently bound sIgA. The three antibodies cross-reacted with rat SCm. We demonstrate the ability of the anti-SC166 monoclonal antibody to immunoadsorb subcellular organelles as a result of the cytoplasmic orientation of its epitope. Our data indicate that there are functional differences between the high- and low-molecular-weight families of SC in terms of IgA dimer binding.