[Steroid treatment of chronic hepatitis and subacute hepatitis (author's transl)].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F Ichida.
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The bilirubin-binding ability of human alpha-fetoproteins, which were purified from fetal cord serum and from ascites fluid of a hepatoma-bearing patient, was examined by the difference spectrum and the Jacobsen peroxidase methods. The difference spectrum observed as a result of the specific binding of bilirubin to alpha-fetoprotein had a maximum at 482 nm, and this pattern was quite similar to that observed for serum albumin. The result obtained by the difference spectrum method showed that 1 mol of each alpha-fetoprotein bound 1 mol of bilirubin at pH 8.3 and that the dissociation constants of the complexes of bilirubin with fetal alpha-fetoprotein and hepatoma-derived alpha-fetoprotein were 2.6 x 10(-7) and 5.0 x 10(-7) M, respectively. The Jacobsen enzymatic method using horseradish peroxidase gave the same values for molar binding ratios and similar dissociation constants, 7.1 x 10(-7) M for fetal alpha-fetoprotein and 7.4 x 10(-7) M for hepatoma-derived alpha-fetoprotein. These results indicate that alpha-fetoprotein may function as a carrier protein for bilirubin as has been shown for serum albumin.
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The copper(II)-binding ability of human alpha-fetoproteins, which were purified from umbilical cord serum and from ascites fluid of a hepatoma-bearing patient, was examined by equilibrium dialysis and gel filtration methods. The pH dependence of the copper(II)-binding ability of alpha-fetoprotein was quite similar to that of albumin. Alpha-fetoprotein bound 1 mol of copper(II) ion per mol of protein above pH 6.0 and 0.5 mol of copper(II) ion at pH 5.4, which is close to the pK value of the imidazole group of histidine. Photooxidation of alpha-fetoprotein in the presence of methylene blue resulted in the loss of the copper(II)-binding ability of the protein in parallel with the destruction of the histidyl residues. A synthetic amino-terminal undecapeptide of alpha-fetoprotein also bound copper(II) ion. These results indicate that the histidyl residue at the amino-terminal region of alpha-fetoprotein plays an important role in the copper(II)-binding ability of the protein.
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Human alpha-fetoproteins were purified from umbilical cord serum and from ascites fluid of a patient with hepatoma by affinity chromatography, and their chemical compositions and terminal sequences were compared. The amino acid compositions of these alpha-fetoproteins were similar and in good agreement with the values reported by other investigators. The COOH-terminal 5-amino acid sequence determined by carboxypeptidase digestion and the NH2-terminal 20-amino acid sequence determined by an automated sequence analyzer revealed that both alpha-fetoproteins had the same terminal sequences of amino acids. The sequence analysis showed that a part of each of the proteins lacked its NH2-terminal residues for one or three amino acids. A small difference in the carbohydrate composition of each alpha-fetoprotein was observed. It was concluded that alpha-fetoproteins from fetal serum and from ascites fluid of a patient with hepatoma had very similar structures.
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