Monoclonal Antibodies for the Different Chains of Chick Type VI Collagen

Avian type VI collagen is composed of three subunits of M_r 140,000, 150,000 and260,000. Monoclonal antibodies were raised against type VI collagen isolated from chick embryo gizzard, and these antibodies were used to immunoprecipitate type VI collagen from metabolically labeled embryo cells. Several antibodies appeared to react with epitopes independent of glycosylation and hydroxylation processes. The antibody-binding sites were identified on the different chains by immunoblotting of total cell extracts. In addition, antibodies that recognized different epitopes on the M_r 260,000 subunit could be grouped in at least three different clusters by competitive inhibition radioimmunobinding assays.