Monoclonal antibodies (MCA’s) were prepared against human protein C (PC) according to Köhler & Milstein, and those that recognize the Ca2+-dependent PC conformers were screened by direct ELISA in the presence of 2 mM either CaCl2 or EDTA. Out of nine MCAߣs thus screened, five MCA's designated as HPC-1˜5, respectively, were found to react with PC in the presence of Ca2+ but not EDTA. By SDS-PAGE coupled with Western Blotting performed in the presence of 2 mM CaCl2, we found that two MCA’s HPC-1 and 2, recognized the light chain, and two others, HPC-3 and 4, recognized the heavy chain of PC. But another MCA, HPC-5 was found to react with only non-reduced antigens. Further study showed that HPC-1 and 5 failed to react with the Gla-domainless PC, i.e. PC from which the N-terminal Gla-domain of the light chain had been cleaved off by α-chymotrypsin. However, all the other three MCA's retained the reactivity with the antigen in the presence of Ca2+ even after the Gla-domain had been removed. The binding of these MCA’s to PC in the presence of Ca2+ was found to be saturable with respect to the Ca2+ concentration and the half maximal binding for each MCA was calculated to be about 0.5+mM. Moreover, many other divalent cations such as Mg2+, Mn2+ , Ba2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Sr2+, were found to substitute for Ca2+ in inducing the metal ion-dependent but Gla-domain-independent conformer of PC.Cross-reactivity to other vitamin K-aependent plasma proteins was examined by direct ELISA; HPC-2 and 3 reacted solely to PC, but HPC-1 and 4 also reacted with prothrombin and HPC-5 with both prothrombin and factor X.These findings indicated that there are two or more metal binding sites besides the Gla-domain, possibly one in the light chain and the other(s) in the heavy chain. The presence of these metal binding sites may contribute to the unique conformer of vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins including protein C.