PURIFICATION OF A CELL-CELL ADHESION REGULATOR FROM PORCINE SEMINAL-VESICLE FLUID

Seminal plasma derived factors are implicated in mediating inflammatio n in the female reproductive tract following insemination at mating. D uring inflammation, leukocytes are activated to express adhesion recep tors resulting in adherence to each other and for the ECM as well as f or various cell types. The present study describes the purification of a leukocyte cell-cell adhesion regulator derived from seminal vesicle fluid. Seminal vesicle fluid proteins were chromatographed by cation exchange, hydrophobic interaction and reversed phase. Chromatography o n Phenyl Superose resolved two distinct forms of cell-cell adhesion re gulation, type I and II. Reversed phase chromatography of fractions in ducing type I adhesion resulted in the isolation of a 15kDa adhesion i nducing protein (pAIF-1). The N-terminal sequence contained a hydropho bic consensus sequence which exists in: two bovine seminal vesicle pro teins (BSPA3, PDC 109); IGF-II receptor; fibronectin; and the cation i ndependent mannose-6-phosphate receptor. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.