Characterization of Heparin Interactions With Recombinant Rodent Stabilin-2/Hyaluronic Acid Receptor for Endocytosis (HARE).

Stabilin-2 is the primary scavenger for hyaluronan (HA) and binds to over two dozen other ligands including chondroitin sulfates, heparin, oxidized/acetylated LDL, etc. Although rat liver sinusoidal endothelial cells are the preferred primary cell lines and animal for physiological studies of Stab2/HARE, the rat recombinant protein has never been characterized. Since the rat Stab2/HARE has a high degree homology to mouse Stab2/HARE which has been cloned, our hypothesis is that the rat receptor is identical to mouse and very similar to the human receptor.