The α1-Acid Glycoprotein Variants of Normal Caucasian and Japanese Individuals*

Abstract

[alpha]1-Acid glycoprotein was isolated from blood of apparently healthy Caucasian adults, including nineteen pairs of twins, and sixty-four Japanese adults. Sialic acid was cleaved off with neu-raminidase, and the resulting modified protein was analyzed by starch gel electrophoresis at pH 5.1. Three types of patterns were obtained. The relative percentage of these patterns was determined for Caucasian and Japanese adults to be 1246:43 and 17:62:21, respectively. Each pair of [image]identical[image] twins always revealed the same type of pattern, whereas four of the ten pairs of fraternal twins each showed different patterns. It was suggested that the different patterns may represent genetically determined variants of [alpha]1-acid glycoprotein and that the fundamental difference between these variants is probably associated with the polypeptide moiety of the protein.