A 42-kDa bovine protein that binds bovine angiogenin [angiogenin binding protein (AngBP)] has been identified as a dissociable cell-surface component of calf pulmonary artery endothelial cells and a transformed bovine endothelial cell line, GM7373. Binding of 125I-labeled bovine angiogenin (125I-Ang) to AngBP occurs with an apparent Kd approximately 5 x 10(-10) M and is specific, saturable, and inhibited by excess unlabeled angiogenin. 125I-Ang can be crosslinked efficiently to AngBP by a water-soluble carbodiimide, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbo-diimide. Bovine ribonuclease A competes with the binding of 125I-Ang to AngBP, but lysozyme does not. Direct binding to AngBP of 125I-labeled bovine ribonuclease A is, however, much weaker than that of 125I-Ang. Two enzymatically active derivatives of angiogenin cleaved at residues 60-61 and 67-68, respectively, fail to induce angiogenesis and also bind to AngBP only weakly. AngBP has been isolated by treatment of cells with heparan sulfate, affinity chromatography on angiogenin-Sepharose of the material dissociated from the cell surface, and gel filtration HPLC. The results suggest that AngBP has the characteristics of a receptor that may likely function in angiogenesis.