Intrinsic factor covalently bound to Sepharose as affinity medium for the purification of a soluble intrinsic factor receptor from human urine

Receptor-mediated endocytosis of cobalamin (vitamin B12)

Dietary cobalamin (Cbl) (vitamin B12) is utilized as methyl-Cbl and the coenzyme 5'-deoxyadenosyl Cbl by cells of the body that have the enzymes methionine synthase and methyl malonyl CoA mutase, which convert homocysteine to methionine and methyl malonyl CoA to succinyl CoA, respectively. Prior to conversions and utilizations as the active alkyl forms of Cbl, dietary Cbl is absorbed and transported across cellular plasma membranes by two receptor-mediated events. First, dietary and biliary Cbl bound to gastric intrinsic factor (IF) presented apically to the ileal absorptive enterocytes is transported to the circulation by receptor-mediated endocytosis via apically expressed IF-Cbl receptor. Second, Cbl bound to plasma transcobalamin (TC) II is taken up from the circulation by all cells via a TC II receptor expressed in the plasma membrane of these cells, and in polarized cells via a TC II receptor expressed in the basolateral membranes. This review updates recent work and focuses on (a) the molecular and cellular aspects of Cbl binding protein ligands, IF and TC II, and their cell-surface receptors, IF-Cbl receptor and TC II receptor; (b) the cellular sorting pathways of internalized Cbl bound to IF and TC II in polarized epithelial cells; and (c) the absorption and transport disorders that cause Cbl deficiency.

A urinary radioisotope-binding assay to diagnose Gräsbeck-Imerslund disease

BACKGROUND

Gräsbeck-Imerslund disease (congenital familial selective vitamin B12-malabsorption with proteinuria, MGA1, MIM No. 261100) is a rare disorder displaying autosomal recessive inheritance. This study was designed to investigate the usefulness of measuring the activity of the urinary receptor for the intrinsic factor-cobalamin complex as a tool to diagnose this disease.

METHODS

The receptor activity was measured by a radioisotope-binding assay, using phenyl-Sepharose gel as the adsorbant solid phase of the receptor.

RESULTS

In 10 Finnish patients, urinary receptor activity was on the average 640 times (15-1400 times) lower than that in 13 healthy control subjects: mean values of 0.1 nmol/mol (range, 0.01-0.32 nmol/mol) and 6.4 nmol/mol (range, 3.8-12.4 nmol/mol) creatinine, respectively. The mean value of urinary receptor activity in 11 first-degree, healthy relatives of the patients was 4.6 nmol/mol (range, 1.1-10.4 nmol/mol) creatinine, a difference from levels in control subjects that is not statistically significant. When the first-degree relatives were divided into heterozygotes (parents and siblings heterozygous for the haplotype of genetic markers associated with the disease gene) and wild-type homozygotes (siblings not displaying the disease haplotype), no difference was seen.

CONCLUSION

Determination of receptor activity in the urine is a highly accurate method for diagnosis of Gräsbeck-Imerslund disease at an early stage, but it does not detect carriers of the disorder.

Purification by cobalamin-Sepharose affinity chromatography and intrinsic factor-binding activity of an extramembrane proteolytic product from pig ileal mucosa

We have purified a cobalamin-binding protein obtained by papain digestion of pig intestine by cobalamin-AH-Sepharose affinity chromatography, with a purification factor of 17,300, a yield of 63% and a cobalamin-binding activity of 11,260 pmol/mg of protein. The protein contained 3.8% carbohydrate and was O- and N-glycosylated. Its molecular mass was 69 kDa on SDS/PAGE and its isoelectric point was 5.1. It had a binding activity for both [57Co]cobalamin and [57Co]cobalamin-intrinsic factor in native PAGE autoradiography and it inhibited the binding of intrinsic factor to the intact intestinal receptor with an IC50 of 49.31 nmol/l in a radioisotope assay. In conclusion, the purified protein shared a binding activity for both cobalamin and intrinsic factor-cobalamin complexes and could correspond to the extracellular domain of the ileal intrinsic factor receptor.