In vivo recognition of mannosylated proteins by hepatic mannose receptors and mannan-binding protein

In vivo recognition of mannosylated proteins by hepatic mannose receptors and serum mannan-binding protein (MBP) was investigated in mice. After intravenous administration, all three different In-111-mannosylated proteins were taken up mainly by liver, and uptake was saturated with increasing doses. In-111-Man-superoxide dismutases and In-111-Man(12)- and In-111-Man(16)-BSA had simple dose-dependent pharmacokinetic profiles, whereas other derivatives (In-111-Man(25)-, -Man(35)-, and -Man(46)-BSA and In-111-Man-IgGs) showed slow hepatic uptake at <1 mg/kg. Purified MBP experiments in vitro indicated that these derivatives bind to MBP in serum after injection, which interferes with their hepatic uptake. To quantitatively evaluate these recognition properties in vivo, a pharmacokinetic model-based analysis was performed for In-111-Man-BSAs, estimating some parameters, including the Michaelis-Menten constant of the hepatic uptake and the dissociation constant of MBP, which correlate to the affinity of Man-BSAs for mannose receptors and MBP, respectively. The dissociation constant of Man-BSA and MBP decreased dramatically with increasing density of mannose, but the Michaelis-Menten constant of hepatic uptake of Man-BSA was not so sensitive to the change in density. This suggests that the in vivo recognition of MBP has a stronger cluster effect than that of mannose receptors. Differences obtained here are due to the unique arrangement of carbohydrate recognition domains on each mannose-specific lectin available for mannosylated ligand recognition.