ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW PLACENTA SPECIFIC PROTEIN (PP10)

PP10 was isolated from aqueous extracts of human term placentae by fractionating the proteins with rivanol and ammonium sulfate, by gelfiltration on Sephadex G-150 and by use of immunoadsorbents. PP10 apparently is a protein specific for the placenta; it could not be detected in extracts from other human tissues. From one human term placenta an average amount of 20 mg PP10 can be extracted. In sera from pregnant women PP10 is usually present only in trace amounts (< 0.1 mg/100 ml). PP10 has the electrophoretic mobility of an α1-globulin and an isoelectric point of 5.1. The purified protein sediments with 3.8 S. PP10 was found to have a molecular weight of 48,000 as determined by ultracentrifugation and a molecular weight of 65,000 as determined by SDS-PAA gel electrophoresis. PP10 is a glycoprotein containing 6.65% carbohydrates (hexoses 4.8%, hexosamines 1.2%, fucose 0.05%, sialic acid 0.6%). The amino acid composition of PP10 has been determined, too; the most abundant amino acids in this protein are glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine and alanine. © 1979 J. F. Bergmann Verlag.