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Analysis of the promoters and 5′-UTR of mouse Cd59 genes, and of their functional activity in erythrocytes

Genes & Immunity volume 7, pages 287–297 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

The complement regulatory protein CD59 inhibits formation of the membrane attack complex (MAC), the terminal effector of the complement system. There are two mouse Cd59 genes in mice but only one in humans. In the work reported here we (a) mapped the promoter regions of both mCd59a and mCd59b genes, (b) identified two different promoters for each mCd59 gene, (c) defined a previously unrecognized additional exon 1 in each mCd59 gene, (d) identified that each mCd59 gene expresses two different tissue-specific transcripts that differ in their 5′-UTR, and (e) confirmed the presence of mCd59b mRNA in multiple tissues. At the functional level, comparison of the sensitivity of mCd59ab−/− and mCd59a−/− red blood cells to MAC-mediated lysis revealed that mCd59b protects RBC from MAC-mediated lysis, at least in the setting of mCd59a deficiency. Together these findings indicate that the mCd59 genes may have complex and perhaps different regulatory mechanisms in different tissues.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr DC Tosteson and Dr MT Tosteson for continuous support and critical comments and to K Hazard for careful editing of the manuscript. We are grateful to Dr Morgan for his anti-mCd59a, and mCd59b anti-body, and mCd59a−/− mouse. This work was supported by NIH grants ROl DK052855 (to JAH), ROl DK060979 (to JAH) and ROl AI061174 (to XQ) and by American Heart Association grant 0435483N (to XQ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    X Qin & J A Halperin

  2. Laboratory for Translational Research, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA

    X Qin, S Ferris, W Hu, F Guo, G Ziegeler & J A Halperin

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  1. X Qin
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  2. S Ferris
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Correspondence to X Qin.

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Qin, X., Ferris, S., Hu, W. et al. Analysis of the promoters and 5′-UTR of mouse Cd59 genes, and of their functional activity in erythrocytes. Genes Immun 7, 287–297 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gene.6364296

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