Pathologische anatomie leiden endothelium (PAL-E) antibody has been used for more than 20 years as a prototype marker for vascular endothelium. The elusive target of this antibody has been claimed to be plasmalemma vesicle-associated protein-1 (PV-1) and neuropilin-1 (NRP-1). Using immunofluorescence, we show that PAL-E, anti-PV-1, anti-NRP-1, and anti-CD31 antibodies show largely identical staining patterns in the vasculature of different tissues. However, PV-1-transfected cells only bind PAL-E and anti-PV-1 antibodies, whereas NRP-1 transfectants stain with anti-NRP-1 antibodies in flow cytometry. Using lysates from tissues and transfected cells, we further confirm that the molecule recognized by PAL-E and anti-PV-1 antibodies is not NRP-1 but PV-1. Nevertheless, coimmunoprecipitation studies unambiguously demonstrate that NRP-1 can form complexes with PV-1. This connects, for the first time, 2 molecules involved in leukocyte trafficking and angiogenesis, thereby opening interesting possibilities for future research in this field.
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Keuschnigg et al. (2012) studied this question.