Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of death from infectious disease in the United States. To examine the possible role of carbohydrates as adhesion receptors for infection, several pulmonary pathogenic bacteria were studied for binding to glycosphingolipids. Radiolabeled bacteria were layered on thin-layer chromatograms of separated glycosphingolipids, and bound bacteria were detected by autoradiography. The classic triad of infectious bacteria found in cystic fibrosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Haemophilus influenzae, and Staphylococcus aureus, along with other bacteria commonly implicated in typical pneumonia, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Kiebsiella pneumoniae, and certain Escherichia coli, bind specifically to fucosylasialo-GM1 (Fucal-2Galfl1-3GalNAcI81-4GalIl1-4GlcI31-lCer), asialo-GM1

Previous studies of the agglutination of erythrocytes by the basement membrane glycoprotein laminin have suggested that laminin binds to gangliosides [Kennedy, D.W., Rohrbach, D.H., Martin, G.R., Momoi, T. & Yamada, K.M. (1983) J. Cell. Physiol. 114, 257-262]. Based on the following evidence, however, we find that laminin binds specifically to sulfatides, not gangliosides. Monogalactosyl sulfatides, purified from sheep erythrocytes with a yield of 4.3 mg/kg of packed cells, bound laminin with high affinity as did authentic bovine brain sulfatide (galactosylceramide-I3-sulfate). The binding activity of these lipids and of total erythrocyte lipids was stable to alkali and neuraminidase treatment but labile to dilute acid under conditions that destroy sulfatides but not gangliosides. Of various glycolipid and phospholipid standards tested, only sulfatides bound laminin with high affinity. Sulfatide binding and agglutinating activities of proteolytic fragments of laminin indicated that the globular end regions of the 200-kDa subunits are required for both activities. Thus, monogalactosylsulfatides, and possibly other more complex sulfated glycolipids, are probably involved in the agglutination of erythrocytes. These results also suggest a physiological function of sulfatides in cell adhesion. The agglutination of erythrocytes by fibronectin is also inhibited by gangliosides [Yamada, K.M., Kennedy, D.W., Grotendorst, G.R. & Momoi, T. (1981) J. Cell. Physiol. 109, 343-351]. Fibronectin, however, did not bind to sulfatides with high affinity but rather bound with low affinity to all anionic lipids tested, including phospholipids, gangliosides, and sulfatides.

Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes containing mature trophozoites and schizonts sequester along venular endothelium and are not in the peripheral circulation of patients with malaria. Knobs appear on infected erythrocytes and are the points of attachment to endothelium. Sequestration may protect the parasite from splenic destruction and may play a role in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria. Correlates of sequestration have been developed in vitro using cultured human endothelium and an amelanotic melanoma cell line. Knobless strains (K-) of P. falciparum fail to sequester in vivo and to bind to cells in vitro. We now present evidence that the receptor for cytoadherence is the glycoprotein, thrombospondin. Aotus monkey or human erythrocytes containing knobby (K+) but not Aotus erythrocytes containing knobless strains of P. falciparum bind to immobilized thrombospondin. Neither binds to the adhesive proteins laminin, fibronectin, factor VIII/von Willebrand factor or vitronectin. Both soluble thrombospondin and anti-thrombospondin antibodies inhibit binding of parasitized Aotus erythrocytes to immobilize thrombospondin and to melanoma cells which secrete thrombospondin.

No abstract