Biochemical characterization of a T-lymphoma-specific 90,000 molecular weight disulfide linked dimeric glycoprotein

The biochemical features of a membrane antigen detected by a mouse monoclonal antibody (A1) raised against the murine thymoma cell line EL4 are described. This reagent detected a novel disulfide-linked 90,000 mol. wt dimeric membrane glycoprotein composed of two chains of approx 45,000 mol. wt. Endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase F digestion generated a single 28,000 polypeptide, thus suggesting that the A1 molecule is a homodimer. No structural homology between the A1 molecule and the human T 90/44 protein (9.3 antigen) could be revealed by peptide mapping analysis. In view of the fact that three polypeptides of mol. wts 28,000-30,000, 21,000 and 15,000 respectively co-precipitated with the A1 antigen, the possible relationship of the A1 molecular complex to other known T-cell surface antigens including the antigen receptor is discussed.