Figure 1

α(1,2)-linked fucosylated proteins are expressed in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). (A) RA synovial tissue (ST) homogenates contained more α(1,2)-linked fucosylated proteins than did osteoarthritis (OA) or normal (NL) STs (normalized to total protein concentration). Results are expressed as a ratio of the amount of fucosylated BSA/total proteins in the ST homogenates using BSA as a standard. (B) Photographs of RA ST. The far left panel shows staining with mouse anti-collagen 1. The middle panel shows staining with Ulex Europeaus Agglutinin 1 lectin (UEA-1) and goat anti-UEA-1. The right panel shows merging of the left panel and middle panel. Yellow indicates α(1,2)-linked fucosylated proteins associated with RA ST fibroblasts and the blue indicates DAPI staining of the tissue (original magnification 100×). (C) α(1,2)-linked fucosylated proteins in RA synovial fibroblast-conditioned medium were significantly higher than in OA and NL synovial fibroblast-conditioned medium. (D) α(1,2)-linked fucosylated proteins in RA synovial fibroblast cell lysates were significantly higher than in NL synovial fibroblast cultures: 2′fucosyllactose-bovine serum albumin (2′FL-BSA) was used as a standard.