Evidence that Lipopolysaccharide and Pertussis Toxin Bind

In previous studies, we used a photoactivable, radioiodinated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derivative to define and characterize a specific bacterial endotoxic LPS-binding protein (p73) on mammalian lymphoreticular cells, including B and T lymphocytes and macrophages. More recently, using the same methodology, we characterized a specific interaction of LPS with the S2 subunit ofBordeteUa pertussis pertussis toxin (PT) in the fluid phase (M.-G. Lei and D. C. Morrison, J. Biol. Chem., 268:1488-1493, 1993). Furthermore, we showed that lysozyme (LZM) but not polymyxin B can compete with PT for binding to LPS in the fluid phase, a result suggesting that these two molecules compete for the same binding site on LPS. In this report, we demonstrate that the binding of PT to murine splenocytes (cell-bound PT) reduces the ability of the LPS photo-cross-linking probe to bind to the p73 receptor. The reduction can also be demonstrated with the PT B oligomer, a result indicating that the observed reduction of LPS binding to the p73 receptor by PT is A-protomer (Sl-subunit) independent. More importantly, our studies document that cell-bound PT can be radiolabelled by the LPS probe, coincident with the observed reduction in p73 photoaffinity labelling. The preferential interaction of LPS with the PT S2 subunit in the fluid phase was, however, not observed with cell-bound PT. The reduction in radiolabelling of the p73 receptor by the LPS probe and in radiolabelling of cell-bound PT was shown to be concentration dependent. The data presented here document, however, that LZM does not reduce the ability of the LPS probe to bind to the p73 receptor on mouse splenocytes, nor does the presence ofLZM bound to LPS influence the observed reduction in photoaffinity labelling of p73 by the LPS probe or radiolabelling of cell-bound PT by the LPS probe. Collectively, these results support the concept that the ability of LPS to interact with PT in the fluid phase is not responsible for the ability of cell-bound PT to influence the binding of the LPS probe to the p73 receptor. Thus, it is suggested that PT and LPS bind to different sites on the p73 molecule and that this same p73 protein may recognize both LPS and PT.