The high-affinity IgA1 toward jacalin was mostly composed of aggregated IgA1 and abundantly contained the asialo disaccharide, Galbeta1,3GalNAc, in the O-linked oligosaccharide in the hinge region [Journal of Biochemistry 120, 92-97 (1996)]. Meanwhile, the removal of sialic acid from IgA1 accelerated the aggregation of the IgA1 molecule [J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 9, 2048-2054 (1998)]. In order to examine the nature of such a sticky IgA1, affinity chromatography using asialo-IgA1 (deSIgA1)-Sepharose was carried out. Seventeen percent of normal human serum IgA1, 27% of asialo-IgA1 (IgA1-S), and 48% of asialo-, agalacto-IgA1 (IgA1-SG) were bound to the column. Removal of the N-acetylgalactosamine residue from IgA1-SG resulted in a decreasing affinity toward deSIgA1-Sepharose. Thus, the binding ability toward the column was the highest for the IgA1-SG among the deglycosylated IgA1s. On the other hand, heat treatment of IgA1 accelerated the aggregation but decreased its binding ability toward the column. Such heat denaturation probably destroys the structure of the binding site. Since the enzymatic removal of the N-glycan sugar chains did not induce the aggregation and exhibited no effect on the binding, the incomplete O-linked sugar chain on the hinge portion should be directly related to the sticky characteristics of the IgA1 molecule. The binding was non-covalent and not strong because the asialo-, agalacto-hinge glycopeptide was eluted slightly slower than the native one from the column and the bound IgA1 was dissociated in the presence of 1 M NaCl.
Copyright 1999 Academic Press.