Functional properties of the allotypes of mouse complement regulatory protein, factor H: difference of compatibility of each allotype with human factor I.

Three allotypes of mouse factor H, H.1, H.2, and H.

A novel T cell activation antigen identified by monoclonal IMN3.1 antibody and expressed preferentially on human T cells susceptible to apoptotic cell death.

When cultured without appropriate growth factors, most of activated (CD45RO+) T cells expanded in acute EBV-induced infectious mononucleosis (IM) easily die via an apoptotic cell death mechanism, indicating one Ag-driven selection in the periphery. In this work, we attempted to raise the mAb against cell surface molecules, preferentially expressed on T cells entering apoptosis, by immunizing PBMC from an acute IM patient. We obtained one mAb, termed IMN3.

Molecular cloning of the b subunit of mouse coagulation factor XIII and assignment of the gene to chromosome 1: close evolutionary relationship to complement factor H.

The b subunit of human coagulation factor XIII (FXIII-b) is composed of 10 short consensus repeats (SCRs) characteristic of the regulatory proteins of complement activation system. A full-length cDNA clone of mouse FXIII-b was isolated and the entire sequence was determined. The predicted amino acid sequence showed 77.

Insertion of the B2 sequence into intron 13 is the only defect of the H-2k C4 gene which causes low C4 production.

The serum level of the fourth component of complement (C4) in mice bearing H-2k haplotype is only 1/10 of that of non-H-2k mice. H-2k bearing mice, but not non-H-2k bearing mice, have an insertion of the B2 sequence into intron 13 of the C4 gene, and aberrant C4 mRNA in liver apparently generated by abnormal RNA splicing caused by the insertion of the B2 sequence. To test the possible causal relationship between the B2 insertion and low C4 production in H-2k mice directly, we constructed the H-2k C4 gene without the B2 insertion and the H-2w7 (non-H-2k) C4 gene with the B2 insertion by exchanging a part of intron 13 between these two genes.

Molecular cloning of mouse beta 2-glycoprotein I and mapping of the gene to chromosome 11.

beta 2-Glycoprotein I (beta 2 GPI), a plasma protein that binds to anionic phospholipids, is composed of five repeating units called a short consensus repeat (SCR), which is found mostly in the regulatory proteins of the complement system. Recently the human beta 2 GPI gene has been assigned to chromosome 17, not to chromosome 1 where most of the genes of the SCR-containing proteins are clustered. In this report, we have isolated a full-length cDNA clone of mouse beta 2 GPI and determined the chromosomal localization of the gene.