Do Human Bile Salt Stimulated Lipase and Colipase-Dependent Pancreatic Lipase Share a Common Heparin-Containing Receptor?

Bile salt stimulated lipase (BSSL), a lipolytic enzyme secreted with pancreatic juice and with human milk, is in concert with colipase-dependent pancreatic lipase, important for the intestinal digestion of dietary lipids. BSSL may also facilitate uptake of free cholesterol from the intestinal lumen, while colipase-dependent lipase has a similar role for fatty acids. According to this theory, the two lipases bind to the intestinal mucosa via a common heparin-involving receptor. In the present study, binding of the two lipases to heparin was explored in vitro using purified human lipases and heparin molecules varying in both chain length and charge density. Native, but not denatured, BSSL bound avidly to heparin and several of the heparin variants. In contrast, at physiologic salt concentration, colipase-dependent lipase did not bind to heparin. Thus, our data do not support the view that the two lipases share a common intestinal heparin-like receptor. Hence, it seems unlikely that such binding could be of physiologic relevance for colipase-dependent lipase, although for BSSL the data are supportive.