Immunological relationships of the glandular kallikreins.

Abstract

The immunological properties of various forms of pancreatic kallikreins, i.e., kallikreins A and B, and asialo-kallikreins A and B, submaxillary kallikrein, renal kallikrein and intestinal kallikrein from hog were studied by immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis techniques to investigate their immunological relationships. The immunological assay showed that there is cross-reaction among the various forms of hog pancreatic kallikreins and other hog glandular kallikreins (submaxillary, renal and intestinal kallikreins) but there is no cross-reaction with either pancreatic kallikreins of other species (dog, rat and human) or human urinary kallikrein (HUK) against rabbit anti-hog pancreatic kallikrein A serum and anti-B serum. The only significant differences observed were in the electrophoretic mobilities of the various forms of hog pancreatic kallikreins and other hog glandular kallikreins under the same conditions of immunoelectrophoresis. In the case of hog pancreatic kallikreins A and B, it could be assumed that the different electrophoretic mobilities of these heterogeneous forms are not mainly due to differences in the amounts of sialic acid residues of these kallikreins. Rabbit anti-HUK serum recognized human glandular kallikreins (pancreatic, salivary and urinary kallikreins), but this antiserum did not react completely with hog pancreatic kallikrein. The implications of this are discussed.