Isolation of a lipopolysaccharide-binding acute phase reactant from rabbit serum

This report describes the purification of an acute phase reactant from acute phase rabbit serum, which endows normal serum with the properties of acute phase serum, insofar as LPS is concerned. The acute phase reactant is referred to as LPS-binding protein, or LBP. LBP was purified approximately 2,000-fold by chromatography of acute phase serum on Bio-Rex 70 and Mono-Q resins. The resulting preparation consisted of two glycoproteins having molecular weights of 60,500 and 58,000; the two were obtained in a variable ratio, usually near 10:1, respectively. After separation by SDS-PAGE, the N-terminal 36 amino acid sequences of the two proteins were identical. From the N-terminal sequence, as well as other properties of LBP, LBP appears to be unrelated to any known acute phase reactants. The direct interaction of LPS and LBP was inferred from two types of evidence: first, immunoprecipitation of [3H]LPS from APRS by anti-LBP sera; and second, by the 125I-labeling of LBP when APRS-containing 125I-labeled 2-(p-azidosalicylamido)ethyl 1,3'-dithiopropionyl-LPS was photolysed. The data presented here support the concept that the 60-kD glycoprotein we have termed LBP is a newly recognized acute phase reactant that may modulate the biochemical and biologic properties of LPS in vivo.