Carrier-protein-mediated enhancement of fatty-acid binding and internalization in human T-lymphocytes

Albumin and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) are members of a multigene family which also includes vitamin-D-binding protein. Previous work in our laboratory has provided experimental support for the suggestion that the entry of unsaturated fatty acids into growing, normal and neoplastic cells may be regulated by AFP. In the actual study we have examined the role of human serum albumin (HSA) as a carrier protein, when compared to AFP, on the uptake (binding and internalization) of fatty acids by resting and PHA-activated human lymphocytes. Radioiodinated human HSA and tritiated oleic and arachidonic acids were used under different experimental conditions to follow the binding of the protein and fatty acids (FA) to cells. Time-course uptake at 4 degrees C of HSA and of oleic and arachidonic acids bound to HSA (FA/HSA molar ratio = 1) by either resting or activated T-lymphocytes exhibited a steady state of binding. The amount of FA bound was much greater than the corresponding amount of HSA, suggesting that T-lymphocytes bear distinct binding sites for albumin and fatty acids. A saturable process of FA binding was observed at constant unbound FA concentration in the incubation medium when the HSA-to-FA molar ratio was fixed at 1 and the concentrations of both HSA and FA were increased simultaneously. This saturable component of binding reflects an intrinsic regulatory effect of HSA, probably operating throughout the interaction of the protein with specific cell receptors. At varying unbound FA concentrations, binding curves showed two distinct components: a non-linear portion which could indicate the presence of a saturable process operating at low concentrations of unbound, free FA, followed by a second part which increased linearly with the concentration of unbound FA. The amount of FA bound at 4 degrees C and bound and internalized at 37 degrees C by both types of cell was considerably higher in the presence than in the absence of carrier proteins. On the contrary, carrier proteins were without effect on the distribution pattern of internalized oleic or arachidonic acid. Taken together, these observations suggest that: (i) the binding and entry of FA into cells is enhanced by the two carrier-proteins at low concentrations of free, unbound fatty acids in the vicinity of the cell surface, and (ii) fatty-acid uptake seems regulated by a dual-receptor mechanism involving HSA and/or AFP receptors as well as plasma-membrane FA-binding proteins.