KM+, a lectin purified from Artocarpusintegrifolia seeds, is an attractant for neutrophils, and has properties similar to fMLP, IL-8 and MNCF. The endogenous lectin MNCF, inhibits carrageenan-induced neutrophil migration when intravenously administered in rats. In an attempt to mimic the activity of MNCF with KM+, we determined the effect of intravenous (iv) injection of KM+ (5 microg) on neutrophil migration to the peritoneal cavity of Wistar rats induced by KM+ (50 microg, intraperitoneal, ip), fMLP (5 ng, ip) and carrageenan (300 microg, ip). Initially we evaluated the effect of the time interval between intravenous and intraperitoneal administration of KM+. The intervals ranged from 20 to 120 min and progressively stronger inhibition was observed with increasing time intervals up to a maximum of 60 min, with effect decreasing thereafter. With injections at the optimum interval of 60 min, we observed that KM+ inhibited KM+- and carrageenan-induced neutrophil migration by 72%, and fMLP-induced migration by 56%. White cell counts for Wistar rats that only received KM+iv, performed at 0 to 120 min intervals after injection, revealed early neutropenia lasting 60 min, followed by a marked increase in circulating neutrophils that reached a maximum of twice the initial levels within 90 min and after 120 min returned to levels near to that observed before intravenous administration of KM+. These results indicate that when KM+ is present in the intravascular space, it produces an inhibitory effect on neutrophil migration similar to that caused by the intravenous administration of other chemoattractants, regardless of whether they act through a mechanism independent of carbohydrate recognition, as does IL-8, or are dependent on carbohydrate recognition, like MNCF.

A neutrophil migration-inducing protein has been isolated from the saline extract of Artocarpus integrifolia seeds by successive sugar affinity chromatography steps during which the protein was not absorbed by D-galactose resin, and then was absorbed to and eluted from D-mannose resin by 0.1 M D-mannose. Gel filtration on Superdex 75 HR indicated a molecular mass of 52 kDa when 0.1 M D-mannose was present in the elution buffer. A single band of apparent molecular mass of 13 kDa was demonstrable by SDS-PAGE only after heating, both in the presence and absence of reducing agent, suggesting that the molecule is a tetramer formed by the noncovalent association of 13 kDa chains. Isoelectric forms corresponding to isoelectric points of 4.0, 4.2, 5.0, and 5.2 were demonstrable by isoelectric focusing-PAGE, and four active forms having the same isoelectric points were separated by chromatofocusing. The minimal m.w. calculated from amino acid analysis data was 13,193. The protein, denoted KM+, stimulated neutrophil migration in the rat peritoneal cavity assay in a dose-related manner in the range of 1 to 300 micrograms per rat. The dose-response curve of the in vitro chemotactic activity of KM+ was bell shaped and its ascending limb was dose dependent in the range of 1 ng to 10 micrograms/well. D-Mannose (0.1 M) inhibited the in vitro (80%) and in vivo (60%) neutrophil migration-inducing activities of KM+ and also its hemmaglutinating activity. The chemotactic activity was shown to be caused by haptotaxis rather than chemokinesis. The physical and biologic properties of KM+ suggest that this lectin may attract neutrophils by a mechanism involving a haptotactic gradient as has been proposed for IL-8. KM+ might be used as tool to study protein-carbohydrate interactions during neutrophil migration through the extracellular matrix.