Characterization of a novel hemolytic activity of human IgG fractions arising from diversity in protein and oligosaccharide components

PLoS One. 2014 Jan 21;9(1):e85711. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0085711. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Human IgG is a well-established multifunctional antigen specific immunoglobulin molecule of the adaptive immune system. However, an antigen nonspecific immunological function of human IgG has never been reported. In this study, human IgG was isolated using ammonium sulfate fractional precipitation and diethylaminoethanol (DEAE) cellulose 52 ion exchange chromatography, from which h-IgG and hs-IgG fractions were purified on the basis of their differential binding to rabbit anti-shrimp hemocyanin antibody (h) and rabbit anti-shrimp hemocyanin's small subunit antibody (hs), respectively. We found that h-IgG had a higher hemolytic activity than hs-IgG against erythrocytes from humans, rabbits, mice and chickens, whereas the control IgG showed negligible activity. h-IgG could interact directly with erythrocyte membranes, and this interaction was suppressed by high molecular weight osmoprotectants, showing that it may follow a colloid-osmotic mechanism. In comparative proteomics and glycomics studies, h-IgG and hs-IgG yielded 20 and 5 significantly altered protein spots, respectively, on a 2-D gel. The mean carbohydrate content of h-IgG and hs-IgG was approximately 3.6- and 2-fold higher than that of IgG, respectively, and the α-d-mannose/α-d-glucose content was in the order of h-IgG>hs-IgG>IgG. In this study, a novel antigen nonspecific immune property of human IgG was investigated, and the diversity in the protein constituents and glycosylation levels may have functional signficance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / chemistry*
  • Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / isolation & purification
  • Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / pharmacology
  • Antibody Specificity
  • Chemical Fractionation
  • Chickens
  • Erythrocytes / drug effects*
  • Glucose / chemistry
  • Glycosylation
  • Hemolysis
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / chemistry*
  • Immunoglobulin G / isolation & purification
  • Immunoglobulin G / pharmacology
  • Mannose / chemistry
  • Mice
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Penaeidae
  • Rabbits

Substances

  • Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Glucose
  • Mannose

Grants and funding

This work was sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31072237), New Century Excellent Talents Program of Ministry of Education of China (No. NCET-11-0922), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 10251503101000002), Guangdong Province College Talent Introduction Project Special Funds (2011), The Key Innovation Project of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province College (No. 2012CXZD0025) and Academic Innovation Team Construction Project of Shantou University (2010). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.