Three complement-type repeats of the low-density lipoprotein receptor- related protein define a common binding site for RAP, PAI-1, and lactoferrin

The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) is a 600-kD scavenger receptor that binds a number of protein ligands with high affinity. Although some ligands do not compete with each other, binding of all is uniformly blocked by the 39-kD receptor-associated protein (RAP). RAP is normally found in the endoplasmic reticulum and seems to function as a chaperone for LRP. To identify the binding sites for RAP, lactoferrin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), a bacterial expression system has been developed to produce soluble LRP fragments spanning residues 783-1399. These residues overlap most of the CNBr fragment containing the second cluster of complement-type repeats (C). Solid phase binding assays show that ¹²⁵I-RAP binds to fragments containing three successive complement-type repeats: C5-C7. PAI-1 and lactoferrin bind to the same fragments. A fragment containing C5-C7 also blocks uptake and degradation of ¹²⁵I-RAP by fibroblasts in a concentration-dependent manner. Binding competition experiments show that RAP, PAI-1, and lactoferrin each inhibit the binding of the others, suggesting that at this site in LRP, RAP acts as a competitive, rather than an allosteric, inhibitor of PAI-1 and lactoferrin binding.