The Ina and Inb blood group antigens are located on a glycoprotein of 80,000 MW (the CDw44 glycoprotein) whose expression is influenced by the In(Lu) gene.

The In^a and In^b blood group antigens were found to he located on an erythrocyte membrane glycoprotein of 80,000 MW by immunoblotting with human anti-In^a and anti-In^b antibodies under non-reducing conditions. This glycoprotein is shown here to be identical to that defined by monoclonal antibodies to CDw44, and a new murine monoclonal antibody (BRIC 35) is added to this cluster. Experiments with endo-β-galactosidase and Endo F preparations suggest that the glycoprotein contains one or more N-glycans but that these oligosaccharides do not contain extensive poly-N-acetyl lacto saminyl sequences. Experiments using membranes prepared from sialidase-treated normal erythrocytes, from Tn erythrocytes and from Cad erythrocytes suggest that the glycoprotein does not contain a substantial content of O-glycans, The In^b antigen and the epitope defined by a murine monoclonal antibody (BRIC 35) show reduced expression on Lu(a-b-) erythrocytes which result from the effect of the dominant inhibitor gene In(Lu). Evidence is presented here that the In^b antigen is expressed on normal granulocytes and lymphocytes and on the haemopoietic cell lines HEL, K562 and HL-60, a lymphoblastoid cell line and lymphocytes from two patients with B-CLL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]