Identification of a major extracellular non-collagenous glycoprotein synthesised by human skin fibroblasts in culture

The major protein released into the medium by human skin fibroblasts in culture has been shown to be a fucosylated glycoprotein (designated MFGP). Analysis by gel filtration chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated that under reducing conditions MFGP has a molecular weight of approx. 250,000, but occurs as a disulphide-linked aggregate in the medium. Three lines of evidence are presented to establish that MFGP is a non-collagenous molecule.