Unconjugated saporin, SAP (Advanced Targeting Systems, Carlsbad, CA, USA), served as control for the targeted ligand toxin. There are approximately 1.5 molecules of saporin conjugated per molecule of FGF2, which was accounted for when treating the cells with saporin versus FGF-SAP.
The plasmid pDEST15-GST-FGF2 was a generous gift from Dr. Malgorzata Zakrzewska (Department of Protein Engineering, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Wroclaw, Poland) and recombinant GST-FGF2 was prepared as previously described [35 (link)].
The following antibodies were used: mouse anti-γ-tubulin (T6557) from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), mouse anti-GST (Sc-138) and rabbit anti-GST (Sc-459) from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Dallas, TX, USA), mouse anti-Lamp1 (1D4B) from Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank. HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies were from Dako (Glostrup, Denmark). Fluorescently labeled secondary antibodies were from Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories (Cambridgeshire, UK).
Hoechst 33,258 and heparin were from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). cOmplete EDTA-free protease inhibitor cocktail was from Roche (Basel, Switzerland).