ゴーヤ種子抽出抗Hレクチンの臨床検査への応用

After the discovery of the phenomenon of aggregation of red blood cells with castor bean extract by Peter Hermann Stillmark in１８８８, various plant hemagglutinins were discovered from leguminous plant seed extracts. These plant hemagglutinins were called“lectins”by William C. Boyd et al . Lectins are sugar-binding proteins that are highly specific for their sugar moieties, physiological activity, and hemagglutinating activity. In particular, lectins displaying blood-group specificity are important for blood-group typing and antigen recognition. In recent years, Ulex lectin（anti-H lectin）extracted from the Ulex europaeus seed was used to subdivide blood of type O, and the subgroup of ABO, but Ulex europaeus is now difficult to obtain, so it is necessary to buy expensive reagents.
On the other hand, Momordica charantias （goya）seed extract（goya lectin）was recently revealed to show higher anti-H activity than Ulex lectin. Goya is readily available and inexpensive to obtain. Therefore, we examined a simple method for the preparation of goya lectin.
As a result, we were able to establish a simple method for preparing goya lectin isolated from goya seeds, and confirm its stability against long-term storage and temperature and usefulness as an anti-H lectin. We expect this method to be used in clinical practice in the future.

四国医学雑誌 : http://www.tokushima-u.ac.jp/med/research/shikoku_acta_medica.html