Binding of 125I-insulin-like growth factor-II to cells cultured in fetal bovine serum: a complication

Insulin-like growth factor II is an important fetal mitogen in mice and humans and its biological activity is regulated in a complex manner. The peptide interacts with three membrane-bound receptors, with a superfamily of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins and with the proteoglycan, glypican-3. Recently, the blood protein, vitronectin, has been identified as a novel insulin-like growth factor II-binding protein. Many studies have used cell lines maintained in fetal bovine serum to identify cell surface insulin-like growth factor II binding sites. We now describe a complication associated with the interpretation of such in vitro studies. Fetal bovine serum-derived vitronectin adheres very tightly to tissue culture dishes. When cells that have been maintained in fetal bovine serum are incubated with 125I-insulin-like growth factor II, a substantial fraction of the 125I-insulin-like growth factor II apparently associated with the cell surfaces may represent radioliogand bound by the fetal bovine serum-derived vitronectin. This may result in over-estimation of cell surface insulin-like growth factor II binding sites.