the amino acid sequence of the helix - rich collagenous part of the α1 chain has been partially described by w . babel et al ., eur . j . biochem ., 143 , 545 ( 1984 ). the full sequence of the noncollagenous α1 - ncl is shown in fig2 . the sequence information available on the globular ncl domain of the α1 chain was examined and the three polypeptides of the invention , designated ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 , were synthesized for further evaluation . the polypeptides of the invention were synthesized using the merrifield solid phase method . this is the method most commonly used for peptide synthesis , and it is extensively described by j . m . stewart and j . d . young in solid phase peptide synthesis , pierce chemical company , pub ., rockford , ill . ( 2d ed ., 1984 ), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein . the merrifield system of peptide synthesis uses a 1 % crosslinked polystyrene resin functionalized with benzyl chloride groups . the halogens , when reacted with the salt of a protected amino acid will form an ester , linking it covalently to the resin . the benzyloxy - carbonyl ( boc ) group is used to protect the free amino group of the amino acid . this protecting group is removed with 25 % trifluoroacetic acid ( tca ) in dichloromethane ( dcm ). the newly exposed amino group is converted to the free base by 10 % triethylamine ( tea ) in dcm . the next boc - protected amino acid is then coupled to the free amine of the previous amino acid by the use of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide ( dcc ). side chain functional groups of the amino acids are protected during synthesis by tfa stable benzyl derivatives . all of these repetitive reactions can be automated , and the peptides of the present invention were synthesized at the university of minnesota microchemical facility by the use of a beckman system 990 peptide synthesizer . following synthesis of a blocked polypeptide on the resin , the resin - bound polypeptide is treated with anhydrous hydrofluoric acid ( hf ) to cleave the benzyl ester linkage to the resin and thus to release the free polypeptide . the benzyl - derived side chain protecting groups are also removed by the hf treatment . the polypeptide is then extracted from the resin , using 1 . 0m acetic acid , followed by lyophilization of the extract . lyophilized crude polypeptides are purified by preparative high performance liquid chromatography ( hplc ) by reverse phase technique on a c - 18 column . a typical elution gradient is 0 % to 60 % acetonitrile with 0 . 1 % tfa in h 2 o . absorbance of the eluant is monitored at 220 nm , and fractions are collected and lyophilized . characterization of the purified polypeptide is by amino acid analysis . the polypeptides are first hydrolyzed anaerobically for 24 hours at 110 ° c . at 6m hcl ( constant boiling ) or in 4n methanesulfonic acid , when cysteine or tryptophane are present . the hydrolyzed amino acids are separated by ion exchange chromatography using a beckman system 6300 amino acid analyzer , using citrate buffers supplied by beckman . quantitation is by absorbance at 440 and 570 nm , and comparison with standard curves . the polypeptides may be further characterized by sequence determination . this approach is especially useful for longer polypeptides , where amino acid composition data are inherently less informative . sequence determination is carried out by sequential edman degradation from the amino terminus , automated on a model 470a gas - phase sequenator ( applied biosystems , inc . ), by the methodology of r . m . hewick et al ., j . biol . chem ., 256 , 7990 ( 1981 ). the invention will be further described by reference to the following detailed examples . the ability of these peptides to bind to type iv collagen and to the ncl domain was evaluated by a variety of approaches . in the first place , network formation by prewarmed intact type iv collagen was examined via the technique of rotary shadowing at the electron microscopic level . table ii lists the permutations which were tested and statistically evaluated ( by counting the number of fields which contained irregular polygonal networks ). table ii______________________________________run material______________________________________ ( 1 ) type iv collagen alone ( control ). ( 2 ) type iv collagen and albumin ( bsa ; another control ). ( 3 ) type iv collagen and isolated ncl domain ( control ncl ). *( 4 ) type iv collagen and diabetically modified or glucosylated ncl domain . ( 5 ) type iv collagen and peptide ts - 1 . ( 6 ) type iv collagen and peptide ts - 2 . ( 7 ) type iv collagen and peptide ts - 3 . ______________________________________ * the ncl domain was isolated by collagenase treatment of murine , ehsderived , purified type iv collagen , as described by tsilibary et al . ( j . cell . biol ., 103 , 2467 - 2473 ( 1986 )). the comparative assembly data obtained from permutations 1 - 4 are shown in fig3 a . the comparative assembly data obtained from permutations 5 - 7 are shown in fig3 b , which also shows the results obtained using type iv collagen with control ncl domain and with glucosylated ncl domain . the data summarized on tables 3a and 3b confirm that : ( a ) control ncl domain binds to type iv collagen and competes for network formation ; and ( b ) diabetically modified or glucosylated ncl domain cannot bind to type iv collagen because it cannot compete for network formation . specifically , it was observed that polypeptide ts - 2 can mimic the effect of intact , control ncl domain , since it can effectively prevent network formation . the other two peptides , ts - 1 and ts - 3 , do not have any effect on the assembly of type iv collagen ( fig3 b ). the binding of the intact ncl domain and polypeptides ts - 2 and ts - 3 to type iv collagen was also examined by solid phase binding assays . type iv collagen was coated onto a plastic surface and the binding of isolated ncl domain was examined by adding increasing concentrations of 125 i - labelled ncl domain ( isolated from purified type iv collagen by treatment with collagenase ). these data are shown in fig4 . it was observed that increasing amounts of 125 i - ncl bound to type iv collagen as the concentration of ncl added was increased , until a plateau was reached , indicating that all available sites for binding to the ncl domain were occupied . this saturable binding of 125 i - ncl to type iv collagen was specific since it could be competed for by an excess of unlabelled ncl domain ( fig4 ). analysis of the affinity of the binding of ncl domain to type iv collagen by a scatchard plot indicated two classes of binding sites with two different binding constants were present ( fig5 ). the two binding constants were 40 nm and 330 nm , respectively . type iv collagen in pbs ( 10 μg / ml , 50 λ ) was added to plastic wells and allowed to bind to the plastic surface by incubation overnight at 4 ° c . subsequently , 125 i - labelled ncl domain was allowed to interact with the immobilized type iv collagen in the presence of bsa , peptide ts - 2 or peptide ts - 3 . when peptide ts - 3 was added in solutions of 125 i - ncl , it did not have any effect on the subsequent binding of 125 i - ncl to type iv collagen ( fig6 ). the presence of peptide ts - 2 in solutions of 125 i - ncl caused a dramatic increase of the binding of 125 i - ncl to type iv collagen until a plateau was reached ( fig6 ). these data indicate that peptide ts - 2 can bind to type iv collagen and also to the isolated ncl domain . this double binding ability of the peptide would account for the observed increase in binding of the ncl domain to type iv collagen when higher concentrations of peptide ts - 2 are used . in order to test the ability of the present polypeptides to bind to heparin , a solution of 2 mg / ml of each polypeptide in 50 nm ammonium bicarbonate ( ph 7 . 8 ) was prepared and then serially diluted 1 : 1 in the same buffer to produce concentrations from 2 mg / ml to 1 μg / ml . one hundred μl from each dilution were incubated with 3 h - heparin ( 50 , 000 dpm / ml ) for two hours at 37 ° c . and the mixtures were then added to nitrocellulose - coated wells . the wells were then washed in 10 mm tris - hcl ph 8 . 0 ( 4x , 2 min each time ). the amount of 3 h - heparin bound to each peptide at each dilution is shown in fig7 . the results of this experiment indicate that peptides ts - 2 and ts - 3 bind to heparin ( ts - 2 to a greater extent than ts - 3 ), whereas ts - 1 does not interact with heparin . the ability of the present polypeptides to interact with heparin when coated on 96 - well plastic plates was evaluated . stock solutions of the polypeptides at a maximum concentration of 2 mg / ml were prepared and serially diluted in phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs )+ nan c , producing final concentrations from 2 mg / ml to 1 μg / ml . fifty μl from each dilution were coated on the 96 - well plates and left to dry overnight at 29 ° c . then , the wells were treated for two hours with 2 mg / ml bsa in order to minimize nonspecific ligand binding . 3 h - heparin was added ( 50 , 000 dpm / well ) and the mixture incubated for two hours . after extensive washing , the 3 h - heparin bound at each peptide concentration was removed with sodium dodecyl sulfate ( sds ) and counted in a scintillation counter . the results shown in fig8 indicate that peptide ts - 2 binds heparin strongly . peptide ts - 3 also binds heparin , but less extensively ( fig9 ). peptide ts - 1 does not bind heparin above background ( bsa ) values . it was then established that 3 h - heparin binds both to intact , native type iv collagen and to the isolated ncl domain . fig1 and 11 show the binding of a constant amount of 3 h - heparin ( 85 , 000 dpm ) to increasing concentrations of type iv collagen and the ncl domain , respectively . a saturable binding is observed in both cases . type iv collagen binds 5 - 6 times more 3 h - heparin than does the ncl domain . next , the binding of increasing concentrations of 3 h - heparin to a constant amount of type iv collagen ( 3 μg ) and an equimolar amount of the ncl domain ( 1 μg ) was tested . again , a saturable binding of 3 h - heparin to type iv collagen ( fig1 ) and to the ncl domain ( fig1 ) was observed . in this type of experiment , approximately 4 times more 3 h - heparin bound to type iv collagen than to the ncl domain . these data indicate that at least two binding sites for heparin exist in type iv collagen : one in the ncl domain and the other ( s ) in the helix - rich part of the molecule . next , solutions of the three peptides of the invention ( not absorbed to plastic ) were screened for ability to inhibit the binding of heparin to intact , native type iv collagen coated on plastic . this experimental approach is intended to obviate problems due to any differential coating of peptides in heparin binding assays . type iv collagen at 60 μg / ml in pbs + 0 . 1 % triton - x was coated on 96 - well plates ( use of 50 μl or 3 μg of laminin per well ), dried overnight at 29 ° c . and then the wells were coated with 2 gm / ml bovine serum albumin ( bsa ) in pbs . peptides at various dilutions ranging from 2 mg / ml to 1 μg / ml were co - incubated with a standard amount of 3 h - heparin ( 30 , 000 dpm / well ) for two hours and the mixture was then transferred to the type iv collagen - coated plates and allowed to incubate for another two hours . after extensive washing , the radioactivity retained in each well was counted . the results shown in fig1 indicate that peptides ts - 2 ( fig1 b ) and ts - 3 ( fig1 c ) interact with heparin in this assay , since they both exhibited an about 43 % inhibition of the binding of 3 h - heparin to collagen at the highest concentration tested . however , peptide ts - 2 was able to significantly inhibit the binding of 3 h - heparin to type iv collagen at lower concentrations than ts - 3 , and therefore , bound to heparin with higher affinity . ts - 1 does not interact with heparin by this assay ( fig1 a ). peptides ts - 2 and ts - 3 were able to bind to heparin in all the assays which were performed . it is interesting that peptide ts - 2 binds both to heparin and to type iv collagen . these data indicate the presence of more than one binding site in this peptide . therefore , it is possible that binding of heparin to one binding site of this peptide competes for the binding of the peptide to type iv collagen . also , this peptide could be used to link heparin and type iv collagen together , as well as to bind them to various biomaterials . these assays were performed with the following cell lines : aortic endothelial cells , metastatic melanoma murine ( m 4 ) cells , normal rat fibroblasts , mm fibrosarcoma cells , c6 glioma cells and breast carcinoma ( a431 ) cells . cell binding assays were performed in the same way for each cell line and the three peptides of the invention , ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 were individually assayed in each case for cell adhesion . adhesion was tested in each case , using a 96 - well microtiter plates absorbed with four different amounts ( 0 . 5 ; 5 ; 50 ; and 500 μg / ml , φλ / well ) of peptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 , ts - 3 and bsa . cultures of cells which were 60 - 80 % confluent were metabolically labelled for 24 hours by the addition of 3 mci of 3 h - thymidine . on the day of the assay , the cells were harvested by trypsinization , the trypsin was inhibited by the addition of serum and the cells were washed free of this mixture and resuspended in dmem . the cells were adjusted to a concentration of 6 × 10 5 / ml and 100 μl of this cell suspension was added to the wells . the assay mixture was then incubated at 37 ° c . for 90 min . at the end of the incubation , the wells were washed with warm pbs containing 10 mm ca ++ and the adherent population was solubilized with 0 . 5m naoh containing 1 % sodium dodecyl sulfate . the solubilized cells were then quantitated using a liquid scintillation counter . each determination was done in triplicate . aortic endothelial cells were obtained from bovine aortas by treatment with collagenase and were frozen at - 196 ° c . until use . these cells were cultured in primary cultures in the presence of dmem and 10 % fetal calf serum at 37 ° c . in a humid atmosphere . when aortic endothelial cells were about 70 % confluent , they were released from the tissue culture plastic by trypsin and then were added in suspension to the wells of 96 - well plates coated with the following peptides : ( a ) ts - 1 , ( b ) ts - 2 and ( c ) ts - 3 , in the concentrations described above . the cells were metabolically labelled with 3 . 0 mci of 3 h - thymidine for 24 hours prior to the assay . after trypsinization , the cells were allowed to attach for a 90 - minute incubation period in the peptide coated wells . after extensive washing , the radioactivity associated with each well was measured and used as an index of cell attachment ( expressed as percent adherent ). the data summarized on fig1 shows that peptide ts - 1 was the most potent in causing the adhesion of aortic endothelial cells , followed by peptides ts - 2 and ts - 3 , respectively . in fig1 , the background values due to bsa binding were subtracted . highly metastatic melanoma cells , k1735m4 , were originally provided by dr . i . j . fidler of houston , tex . when the cells were received , a large number of early passage cells were propagated and frozen in liquid nitrogen . the tumor cells are usually cultured in vitro for no longer than six weeks . following this period , the cells are discarded and new cells withdrawn from storage for use in further in vitro or in vivo experiments . this precaution is taken to minimize phenotypic drift that can occur as a result of continuous in vitro passage . the cells were cultured in dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle &# 39 ; s medium ( dmem ) containing 5 % heat inactivated fetal calf serum . the cultures were grown in 37 ° c . incubators under a humidified atmosphere containing 5 % co 2 . cells were subcultured twice weekly by releasing cells gently from the flask , using 0 . 05 % trypsin and 1 mm edta . the melanoma cells were metabolically labelled in the same fashion as the endothelial cells described hereinabove , using 2 μci / ml 3 htdr ( tritiated thymidine ). the labelled cells were harvested as described for the endothelial cells . the cell adhesion assay was identical to that described hereinabove for the bovine aortic endothelial cell assay . the data summarized in fig1 demonstrates that peptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 promote adhesion of m 4 cells . peptide ts - 1 was the most potent in this respect . in this figure , adhesion of m 4 cells to intact type iv collagen and isolated ncl domain is shown for comparison . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . these cells were obtained from cultures of rat dermis explants in dmem containing 10 % fetal calf serum , in plastic wells . under these conditions , fibroblasts migrated to the bottom of the plastic dish . when the cells were confluent , they were harvested by trypsinization and were then metabolically labelled , as described above , for the cell adhesion assay . fig1 shows that peptide ts - 1 was the most potent in promoting adhesion of these cells followed by peptides ts - 2 and ts - 3 , which promoted adhesion of rat fibroblasts to a minimal extent . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . d . isolation of and cell adhesion assay for mm fibrosarcoma cell line murine fibrosarcoma cells ( uv - 2237 - mm ) were originally provided by dr . i . j . fidler of anderson hospital , university of texas health sciences center , houston , tex . culturing , labelling and harvesting techniques were as described in part a . the results of this assay are summarized in fig1 . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . rat c6 glioma cell line was purchased from the american type culture collection ( identification number ccl 107 ). culturing techniques were as described in part a . labelling and harvesting techniques were as described above , under example 4 . the results of this assay are summarized in fig1 . peptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 promoted adhesion of c6 glioma cells . at the highest concentration , peptide ts - 1 was the most potent in promoting adhesion . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . a431 cells were purchased from the american type culture collection . culturing , labelling and harvesting techniques have been described above ( see methodology under example 4 , and part a ). the results of this assay are summarized in fig2 . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . fig2 summarizes the data with respect to the adhesion of the above - mentioned peptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 to the previously described cell lines . two other irrelevant peptides were also used : jm - 8 , as a positive control ( a peptide derived from the sequence of fibronectin , which is known to promote cell adhesion ) and f - 11 ( a peptide derived from the sequence of the β 1 chain of laminin , which does not promote cell adhesion and which was used as a negative control ). adhesion to isolated domain ncl is also shown for comparison . background adhesion to bsa has been subtracted . in summary , peptide ts - 1 promotes adhesion of aortic endothelial cells , metastatic carcinoma m 4 cells , normal rat fibroblasts , mm fibrosarcoma cells , c6 glioma cells and a431 breast carcinoma cells . peptide ts - 2 binds ( a ) to type iv collagen , ( b ) to heparin and ( c ) promotes adhesion of the above - mentioned cell lines . peptide ts - 3 ( a ) binds to heparin and ( b ) promotes adhesion of the above - mentioned cell lines . a number of practical applications for polypeptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 can be envisioned . such applications include the promotion of the healing of wounds caused by the placement of natural or synthetic substrata within the body . such synthetic substrata can include artificial vessels , intraocular contact lenses , hip replacement implants and the like , where cell adhesion is an important factor in the acceptance of the synthetic implant by normal host tissue . as described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 578 , 079 , medical devices can be designed making use of these polypeptides to attract cells to the surface in vivo or even to promote the growing of a desired cell type on a particular surface prior to grafting . an example of such an approach is the induction of endothelial cell growth on a prosthetic device such as a blood vessel or vascular graft , which is generally woven or knitted from a synthetic resin such as nitrocellulose , expanded polytetrafluoroethylene or polyester fiber , particularly dacron ™ ( polyethylene tetephthalate ) fiber . devices intended for cardiac insertion include temporary left ventricular assist devices , heart valves , intraortic balloon pumps and artificial hearts . such devices are preferably formed from synthetic resins such as polyether - type polyurethane elastomers ( cardiothane ™, kontron ) or from vulcanized polyolefin rubbers ( hexsyn ™, goodyear ). most types of cells are attracted to collagen and to the present polypeptides , but endothelial cells , epithelial cells and fibroblastic cells in particular may be strongly attracted to the present polypeptides . the latter point indicates the potential usefulness of these defined polypeptides in coating a patch graft or the like for aiding wound closure and healing following an accident or surgery . in such cases , it may be advantageous to couple the peptide to a biological molecule , such as collagen , a glycosaminoglycan or a proteoglycan . collagens , proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans are major components of connective tissues and basement membranes . in some cases , prosthetic devices formed entirely or in part from naturally - occurring tissues instead of synthetic polymers are used . one example is the use of bovine heart valves to replace defective human heart valves . such artificial valves can also comprise human dura matter or bovine pericardium . another example is the use of bovine arteries as vascular grafts . it may be useful to coat surfaces of these biological substrata with the present polypeptides , in order to modify the cellular response , in vivo , thus improving the therapeutic outcome . this can be achieved by a variety of methods known to the art , e . g ., by direct binding of the polypeptides to the target surfaces based on the affinities described hereinabove , or by the covalently bonding the polypeptides to the substrate using various crosslinking reactions or reagents . for a review of the use of synthetic resins and biomaterials in prosthetic devices , see chem . & amp ; eng . news ( apr . 14 , 1986 ) at pages 30 - 48 , the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein . it is also indicative of their value in coating surfaces of a prosthetic device which is intended to serve as a temporary or semipermanent entry into the body , e . g ., into a blood vessel or into the peritoneal cavity , sometimes referred to as a percutaneous device . such devices include controlled drug delivery reservoirs or infusion pumps . also , polypeptides ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 can be used to promote endothelial , fibroblast or epithelial cell adhesion to naturally occurring or artificial substrata intended for use in vitro . for example , a culture substrate such as the wells of a microtiter plate or he medium - contacting surface of microporous fibers or beads , can be coated with the cell - attachment polypeptides . this can obviate the use of fibronectin in the medium , thus providing better defined conditions for the culture as well as better reproducibility . as one example of commercial use of cellattachment surfaces , cytodex ™ particles , manufactured by pharmacia , are coated with gelatin , making it possible to grow the same number of adherent cells in a much smaller volume of medium than would be possible in dishes . the activity of these beads is generally dependent upon the use of fibronectin in the growth medium and the present polypeptides are expected to provide an improved , chemically - defined coating for such purposes . other surfaces or materials may be coated to enhance attachment , such as glass , agarose , synthetic resins or long - chain polysaccharides . finally , ts - 1 , ts - 2 and ts - 3 can be used to coat the surface of medical devices intended for external application or attachment to the body . such devices include &# 34 ; bandages &# 34 ;, which term is also intended to refer to wound packs and dressings , which can comprise surfaces formed from absorbent cellulosic fibers , from synthetic fibers or from mixtures thereof . these surfaces can be coated with amounts of ts - 1 , ts - 2 and / or ts - 3 effective to promote cellular growth , wound healing , graft attachment and the like . the invention has been described with reference to various specific and preferred embodiments and techniques . however , it should be understood that many variations and modifications may be made while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention .
a composition which can bind heparin and promote cellular adhesion is provided which consists essentially of a polypeptide of the formula : met - phe - lys - lys - pro - thr - pro - ser - thr - leu - lys - ala - gly - glu - leu - arg , thr - ala - gly - ser - cys - leu - arg - lys - phe - ser - thr - met , asn - pro - leu - cys - pro - pro - gly - thr - lys - ile - leu , or mixtures thereof . medical devices such as prosthetic implants , percutaneous devices , bandages and cell culture substrates coated with the polypeptide composition are also provided .