title: Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) binding protein-3 in pregnancy serum binds native IGF-I but not iodo-IGF-I.
abstract: Although serum immunoreactive insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) increases during pregnancy, radioligand binding methods such as ligand blotting with iodinated IGFs fail to detect the protein in pregnancy serum. Since IGFBP-3 must bind IGF-I or IGF-II to form a complex with the acid-labile subunit (alpha-subunit), we have used ternary complex formation from [125I]alpha-subunit as a measure of IGF binding to serum IGFBP-3. High-pressure liquid chromatography fractions containing IGFBP-3 from pregnancy serum did not bind [125I]IGF-I, although the equivalent fractions from nonpregnancy serum showed dose-dependent binding. In contrast, IGFBP-3 fractions from nonpregnancy and pregnancy sera both bound [125I]alpha-subunit in the presence of either exogenous IGF-I or endogenous serum IGFs, implying that non-iodinated IGFs could bind to the IGFBP-3. Substitution of nonradioactive iodo-IGF-I for native IGF-I in the complex formation assay confirmed that the pregnancy-induced alteration in IGFBP-3, probably resulting from proteolysis, prevents it from binding iodo-IGF-I while having little effect on its binding of the native peptide. This provides an explanation for the failure to detect IGFBP-3 in pregnancy by radioligand binding methods, and raises the question of the significance of proteolysis of IGFBP-3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Suikkari
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Baxter
mesh_terms: D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood*; D012974:Sodium Iodide / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018969:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D012974:Sodium Iodide