Difference in the ability of blood group-specific lectins and monoclonal antibodies to recognize the ABH antigens in human tissues

Abstract

Twelve different kinds of blood group-specific lectins have been used along with monoclonal anti-A, -B and -H antibodies for detecting the corresponding antigens in selected human tissues. Although most of the lectins recognized the antigens in the tissue sections examined, they displayed marked differences in their recognition patterns in certain tissues. Helix asparsa agglutinin (HAA), Helix pomatia agglutinin (HPA) and monoclonal anti-A antibody recognized A antigens in the mucous cells of salivary glands from blood group A or AB nonsecretor as well as secretor individuals, whereas Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA), Griffonia simplicifolia agglutinin-I (GSA-I), Sophora japonica agglutinin (SJA) and Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA) did not bind to them from nonsecretors. A antigens in endothelial cells, lateral membrane of pancreatic acinar cells and small mucouslike cells of submandibular glands from some individuals were likewise recognized by HAA and HPA but not by other blood group A-specific lections. In contrast, both HAA and HPA did not recognize the A antigens in mucous cells of Brunner's glands while other A-specific lectins and monoclonal anti-A antibody reacted specifically with the antigens. Such a difference was not observed with lectins specific for blood group B. However, the B antigens in Brunner's glands were recognized by these lectins but not with monoclonal anti-B antibody. The difference in labelling ability was also noted among the blood group H-specific lectins and monoclonal anti-H antibody in endothelial cells of blood vessels. Ulex europaeus agglutinin-I reacted with these cells irrespective of ABO and the secretor status of the individuals, while Anguilla anguilla agglutinin and monoclonal anti-H antibody reacted only with those cells from blood group O individuals. No reaction was observed with Lotus tetragonolobus agglutinin in these tissue sites. These results suggest a great diversity of blood group antigens in different human tissues.

Distribution of H Type 1 and of H Type 2 Antigens of ABO Blood Group in Different Cells of Human Submandibular Gland

“…Whereas there are many reports on the immunohistochemistry of ABO antigens in normal tissues and in cancer tissues (Holthöfer et al 1982;Laden et al 1984;Ito et al 1985Ito et al ,1990Mollicone et al 1985;Yuan et al 1985;Nakajima et al 1988;Hakomori 1989;Cossu et al 1990;Ravn et al 1994), much less is known about the distribution and the amount of each type chain of ABO substances in tissues because the availability of a monoclonal antibody (MAb) for a given type of structure is limited and the specificity of MAbs against blood group substances has been demonstrated to be broader than previously imagined (Mollicone et al 1996). Mollicone et al (1996) found that only one MAb (BNF13) among 28 MAbs which were believed to be specific to H Type 2 was indeed specific to H Type 2.…”

Histochemical analysis of blood group antigens in human sublingual glands and pancreas. An application of high-performance liquid chromatography to estimate the quantity of galactose liberated from tissue sections by ?-galactosidase digestion

“…These reagents appear to have high sensitivity but restricted specificity for B antigen variants. Since a previous study suggested that mAb-B A582 cannot recognize difucosyl structures such as BLe b and BLe y in the mucous cells of Brunner's glands (Ito et al, 1990a), the variability of the reaction of these reagents in sublingual glands is in part ascribed to the compositional difference in mono-and difucosyl structures produced by mucous cells in different individuals. In fact, the presence of BLe b and BLe y structures in the mucous cells of sublingual glands was demonstrated by staining with mAb-Le b and mAb-Le y following ~-galactosidase digestion.…”

“…Therefore, the content of enzyme-susceptible B antigens in non-secretors is much lower than that in secretors. On the other hand, the specific reaction of mAb-B H079 with the mucous cells from non-secretors may be taken as evidence that a particular type of B antigen which is resistant to enzyme digestion is expressed in mucous cells from blood group B and AB non-secretors, as in the case of A antigen (Ito et al, 1990a). Although the contribution of BLe b and BLe y antigens to the reactivity of H079 in some nonsecretors cannot be neglected, these antigens may represent only a small proportion of those antigens expressed in non-secretors.…”

“…In previous studies, we developed a lectin staining method or immunostaining method in combination with glycosidase digestion procedures to localize and analyse the exact chemical structures of blood group-related carbohydrate chains in different human tissues (Ito et al, 1986(Ito et al, , 1990aIto & Hirota, 1993). Although enzyme digestion provided reliable and consistent results in terms of changes in the reactivity of lectins or monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in tissue sections, the saccharide residues liberated from tissue sections by enzyme digestion were not estimated qualitatively or quantitatively.…”

Localized agglutinin staining in muscle capillaries from normal and very old atrophic human muscle using winged bean ( Psophocarpus tetragonolobus ) lectin

“…The WBA binding pattern in muscle section was therefore compared with the capillary binding of these lectins: U. europaeus isolectin I (UEA I, anti-H; Holthöfer et al 1982), Dolichos biflorus (DBA, anti-A; Wu and Sugii 1988), Griffonia simplicifolia (GS I, anti-A and B; Hansen-Smith et al 1989), and G. simplicifolia isolectin B4 (GS IB4), anti-B; Ito et al 1990). The above lectins were from Sigma or Kem-EN-Tec.…”