Serum alpha(2)-macroglobulin levels were measured in normal subjects and in patients with various diseases by an immunochemical method. The values for normal men were 284 mg./100 ml. (+/-89.6 mg./100 ml.) and for normal women 350 mg./100 ml. (+/-94.5 mg./100 ml.). Men with rheumatoid arthritis had normal levels, but the levels in women were depressed. There was no relationship to the concentrat...

BACKGROUND alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) is a glycoprotein involved in delivery of growth factors, regulation of matrix degrading enzymes and modulation of fibrinolysis factors, all of which are considered as important pathogenic mechanisms of glomerular injury. However, the role of alpha 2M in glomerular disease has not been extensively studied. The amount, frequency and local distribution ...

Two views of native alpha 2-macroglobulin are revealed by electron microscopy of negatively stained samples; in one view the molecule resembles a padlock and in the other, a pair of lips. Interconversion of the two views upon tilting establishes that these are two different projected views of the same structure. Furthermore, the two views are related by a 45 degrees rotation about their major a...

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), a serine protease that catalyzes the initial and rate-limiting step in the fibrinolytic cascade, is cleared rapidly in vivo by the liver. Using chemical crosslinking, we have recently identified a plasminogen-activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1)-independent t-PA clearance receptor on rat hepatoma MH1C1 cells with a relative molecular mass of approximately...

A two-step procedure was devised for purification of alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2 M) from human serum by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on "Superose 6" gel-filtration medium and "Mono-Q" ion-exchange medium. The isolated protein reacts with specific alpha 2 M-anti-serum upon immunoelectrophoresis, migrates as single protein band on SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis, and yields...

The growth of Treponema denticola in a complex medium was stimulated by human ceruloplasmin and, to a lesser extent, albumin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, and alpha-2-macroglobulin. Human ceruloplasmin could stimulate growth of T. denticola as well as or better than 5% rabbit serum, with a dose-response relationship of between 1 and 5 mg of ceruloplasmin per ml of culture med...