Detection of an M r 200,000 glycoprotein in the culture medium of skin fibroblasts from patients with Huntington disease

Abstract

Huntington disease is a progressive neurological disorder with an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Using high resulution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we analyzed the intracellular and the released protein patterns of skin fibroblasts from HD patients and compared them to cells from apparently normal individuals matched for age and sex. No consistent differences were found in the pattern of total cellular proteins. In contrast, the culture medium from HD patients (12 of 19) contained an M r 200,000 glycoprotein not found in twelve control cultures. The relation of this protein to the HD gene is unknown.