Physicochemical characterization of C3b receptors isolated from human erythrocytes by immunoprecipitation

A high yield of active C3b receptors was obtained by solubilizing human erythrocyte membranes with 2 M KBr, whereas other solubilization agents yielded no, or significantly less activity. Gel filtration of the KBr lysates revealed that the apparent molecular wieght of biologically active C3b receptor molecules was greater than 1 x 10(6). Immunoprecipitates prepared with radio-iodinated KBr lysates and anti-C3 receptor sera (AC3RS) were subjected to sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) or sodium dodecyl gel filtration. Unreduced SDS-PAGE and gel filtration profiles showed three predominant peaks with apparent mol. wts of 1--1.3 x 10(6), 80,000 and 60,000. Whereas the high mol. wt component decreased only slightly after reduction, the 80,000 and 60,000 mol. wt components disappeared and two new peaks with apparent mol. wts of 38,000 and 18,000 appeared in SDS-PAGE profiles. Although the high mol. wt component present in reduced SDS-PAGE profiles was detectable in some of the control experiments, none of the other peaks could be precipitated with control sera, and these components could be demonstrated only when KBr lysates of C3b receptor-positive erythrocytes and AC3RS that were able to inhibit ligand binding of the C3b receptors were used for precipitation. These findings suggest that (a) the C3b receptor of human erythrocytes in its biologically active state is a macromolecule with an apparent mol. wt higher than 1 x 10(6) and (b) the protein moiety consists predominantly of non-covalently linked protein molecules with apparent mol wts of 80,000 and 60,000. These protein molecules are composed of disulphide-bridged polypeptide chains with apparent mol. wts of 38,000 and 18,000.