(5) to the binding sites is followed by internalization of IF-B 12 and lysosomal degradation of IF, whereas B 12 is transcytosed and secreted to plasma in complex with TC. The receptor, first isolated in small amounts from the ileal mucosa by ligand affinity chromatography, was reported as a 230-kDa protein of unknown structure (8). Later, a protein of a similar size and immunoreactivity was isolated from the kidney cortex (9). Recently, this protein has shown identity (10) with an immunopurified kidney and yolk sac protein, previously referred to as gp280. The latter has been shown previously to be the target of rat teratogenic antibodies (11) and to associate with the endocytic apparatus in rat yolk sac cells (12, 13).The TC-facilitated uptake of B 12 from plasma and various tissue fluids apparently occurs via more than one receptor. One candidate receptor is a 120 -130-kDa membrane protein of unknown structure identified in several human tissues including placenta and liver (14). Another receptor, which we recently identified as a high affinity receptor of TC-B 12 (15), is megalin, the 600-kDa endocytosis-mediating receptor expressed in several absorptive epithelia including renal proximal tubule, yolk sac, and the brain ependyma. The receptor (16 -18) belongs to the low density lipoprotein receptor family and binds, in addition to TC-B 12 , a variety of substances with basic regions, including aminoglycosides (19), clusterin (20), lipoproteins (21), and RAP (21-23). The last represents a 40-kDa endoplasmic reticulum protein serving as a novel kind of chaperone or escort protein preventing aggregation of RAP-binding receptors (24,25). RAP affinity chromatography represents an effective way of purifying megalin (26,27).In the present study we have identified and characterized the function of a high molecular mass protein (ϳ460 kDa) eluting together with megalin from a RAP-Sepharose column loaded with solubilized renal cortical membranes. Surprisingly, we observed that whereas megalin binds TC-B 12 but not IF-B 12 , the copurifying ϳ460-kDa protein displays a high affinity for IF-B 12 but not for TC-B 12 . Extended analyses of the molecular ligand-receptor interaction and the in vivo uptake in