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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Serum complement C2 levels in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF).

Serum C2 complement levels were measured in 17 children suffering from CF, 17 with obstructive bronchitis, and 7 control children. No correlation was found between the C2 level and the clinical stage in Shwachman score, the HLA B7 or B18 antigens and the ventilation functional parameters. The mean serum C2 complement level did not differ in the three investigated groups, but in 5 of the 17 CF patients the serum C2 was diminished according to the possibility of C2 complement heterozygosity. The CF patients with diminished C2 complement levels exhibited HLA B7, B12 or B35 antigens. The serum C2 complement levels were significantly higher in the HLA B18 antigen-carrier CF homozygotes.

Bronchitis↗

Complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning and the beta-chain of C4 share a binding site for complement C2.

Complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning (CRIT) of the Schistosoma parasite binds human C2 via the C2a segment. The receptor in vivo functions as C2 decoy receptor by directly competing with C4b for binding to C2. As a result, CRIT is able to limit the extent of classical pathway (CP) C3 convertase formation. We report that the CRIT-extracellular domain 1 (ed1) peptide inhibits CP-mediated complement activation with an ICH(50) of approximately 0.1 microM, the C-terminal 11 aa of CRIT-ed1, named H17, even more effectively. The beta-chain region F222-Y232 of C4 shares 55% identity and 73% similarity with H17. Peptides based on this region also inhibit CP in a dose-dependent manner. As further evidence of C2 binding we showed CRIT-ed1 peptides and homologous C4 beta-chain peptides to inhibit complement in C2 hemolytic assays. We have predicted C4 beta-c F222-Y232 as a C2 binding site which we have termed the CRIT-ed1 domain, and the sequence [F/H]EVKX(4/5)P as a consensus C2-binding sequence. Anti-CRIT-ed1 cross-reacts with the C4 beta-chain and F222EVKITPGKPY232 appears to be the key epitope recognized by this Ab. Furthermore, anti-CRIT-ed1 was found to inhibit CP activation in a total hemolytic assay. We believe that Schistosoma CRIT-ed1, as well as C4 beta-chain peptides based on the CRIT-ed1 domain, function as interface peptides. These peptides, based on C2-binding sequences in CRIT, or C4, competitively inhibit the binding of C2 to C4b and thus limit the activation of C. The C4 peptides, unlike CRIT-ed1, did not inhibit the cleavage of C2 by C1s.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning: a novel human complement inhibitory receptor.

The complement system presents a powerful defense against infection and is tightly regulated to prevent damage to self by functionally equivalent soluble and membrane regulators. We describe complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning (CRIT), a novel human complement regulatory receptor, expressed on hemopoietic cells and a wide range of tissues throughout the body. CRIT is present in human parasites through horizontal transmission. Serum complement component C2 binds to the N-terminal extracellular domain 1 of CRIT, which, in peptide form, blocks C3 convertase formation and complement-mediated inflammation. Unlike C1 inhibitor, which inhibits the cleavage of C4 and C2, CRIT only blocks C2 cleavage but, in so doing, shares with C1 inhibitor the same functional effect, of preventing classical pathway C3 convertase formation. Ab blockage of cellular CRIT reduces inhibition of cytolysis, indicating that CRIT is a novel complement regulator protecting autologous cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Biosynthesis of a structurally abnormal C2 complement protein by macrophages from C2-deficient guinea pigs.

In order to characterize a genetic deficiency of C2 in guinea pigs, production of C2 by peritoneal macrophage cultures derived from four normal, four heterozygous deficient, and four homozygous deficient animals was measured functionally and immunochemically after metabolic labeling with 35S-methionine. Macrophage monolayers from homozygous deficient animals failed to secrete hemolytically detectable C2 up to 74 hr in culture. A single cell hemolytic plaque assay also failed to demonstrate any functional C2 production by cells from homozygous deficient animals. No C2 protein was detected in media from three of the four homozygous deficient animals, but in one, apparent C2 fragments were present. In contrast, intracellular C2 protein was identified in all four homozygous deficient cell cultures. Its mobility on SDS-PAGE was slightly faster than normal. Much less abnormal intracellular C2 protein was recovered from homozygous deficient macrophage monolayers than intracellular C2 protein from normal macrophage monolayers. Monolayers from heterozygous animals produced functional and immunochemical C2 at approximately 30% of the normal rate. Normal rates of biosynthesis and secretion of two other MHC-linked class III antigens, C4 and factor B, were detected in macrophage cultures from homozygous and heterozygous deficient animals. These data suggest that a specific defect, i.e. a structural abnormality in C2 protein, underlies C2 deficiency in guinea pigs.

Animals↗

Expression of functional recombinant von Willebrand factor-A domain from human complement C2: a potential binding site for C4 and CRIT.

CRIT (complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning) is a newly described transmembrane molecule that is capable of binding C2 via its first extracellular domain (ed1). CRIT competes with C4b for the binding of C2. Previous experiments have suggested that a major binding site for C2 is located on short, almost identical peptide sequences of CRIT-ed1 and the beta-chain of C4. The C2 domains involved in binding, however, remain unknown. We cloned the vWFA (von Willebrand factor-A) domain of C2, as it is a region likely to be involved in interactions with other proteins, and were able to functionally express the 25 kDa human complement C2 vWFA domain (amino acids 224-437). The recombinant vWFA protein fixed on MagneHis Ni-Particles bound C4 in normal human serum. The C4 alpha, beta and gamma chains were separated by SDS/PAGE and purified separately by electro-elution. The purified C4 chains were then used in a sandwich ELISA, which showed the vWFA to bind C4 only via the C4beta chain. In a haemolytic assay, the recombinant vWFA protein inhibited complement activation by the classical pathway in a dose-dependent manner by competing with native C2 for binding to C4b. vWFA bound the ed1 peptide of CRIT as well, and specifically to the 11-amino-acid peptide fragment of ed1 that is known to interact with whole C2. These findings show that the vWFA domain is centrally involved in the C2-CRIT and C2-C4b bindings. The cloned vWFA domain will allow us to dissect out the fine interactions between C2 and CRIT or C4b.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

Structural polymorphism of mouse complement C2 detected by microscale peptide mapping: linkage to H-2.

Complement C2 was isolated from 17 mouse strains by immunoprecipitation and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and examined for structural polymorphism by using micro-peptide mapping. By comparing the peptide maps of tryptic digest of C2 from various strains, two allotypic variations were detected. B10 and 14 other mouse strains demonstrated C2.1 type, while a wild mouse line (M.Mol-Ohm) and one B10 congenic strain, B10.MOL.OHM, which carries the H-2 derived from M.Mol-Ohm, demonstrated C2.2 type. (B10 X B10.MOL.OHM)F1 demonstrated codominantly expressed C2 type (C2.1.2). Desialation of mouse C2 did not abolish the observed variation of mouse C2. It is concluded that an H-2-linked codominant locus controls the structure of mouse complement C2, further confirming the extensive homology of the major histocompatibility complex among higher vertebrate species.

Alleles↗

Type II human complement C2 deficiency. Allele-specific amino acid substitutions (Ser189 --> Phe; Gly444 --> Arg) cause impaired C2 secretion.

Type II complement protein C2 deficiency is characterized by a selective block in C2 secretion. The Type II C2 null allele (C2Q0) is linked to two major histocompatibility haplotypes (MHC) that differ from the MHC of the more common Type I C2 deficiency. To determine the molecular basis of Type II deficiency the two Type II C2Q0 genes were isolated and transfected separately into L-cells. Subsequent molecular biology, biosynthetic, and immunofluorescence studies demonstrated that C2 secretion is impaired in Type II C2 deficiency because of different missense mutations at highly conserved residues in each of the C2Q0 alleles. One is in exon 5 (nucleotide C566 --> T; Ser189 --> Phe) of the C2Q0 gene linked to the MHC haplotype A11,B35,DRw1,BFS, C4A0B1. The other is in exon 11 (G1930 --> A; Gly444 --> Arg) of the C2Q0 gene linked to the MHC haplotype A2,B5, DRw4,BFS,C4A3B1. Each mutant C2 gene product is retained early in the secretory pathway. These mutants provide models for elucidating the C2 secretory pathway.

Alleles↗

A peptide derived from the parasite receptor, complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning, suppresses immune complex-mediated inflammation in mice.

Complement C2 receptor inhibitor trispanning (CRIT) is a Schistosoma protein that binds the human complement protein, C2. We recently showed that peptides based on the ligand binding region of CRIT inhibit the classical pathway (CP) of complement activation in human serum, using hemolytic assays and so speculated that on the parasite surface CRIT has the function of evading human complement. We now show that in vitro the C2-binding 11-aa C terminus of the first extracellular domain of CRIT, a 1.3-kDa peptide termed CRIT-H17, inhibits CP activation in a species-specific manner, inhibiting mouse and rat complement but not that from guinea pig. Hitherto, the ability of CRIT to regulate complement in vivo has not been assessed. In this study we show that by inhibiting the CP, CRIT-H17 is able to reduce immune complex-mediated inflammation (dermal reversed passive Arthus reaction) in BALB/c mice. Upon intradermal injection of CRIT-H17, and similarly with recombinant soluble complement receptor type 1, there was a 41% reduction in edema and hemorrhage, a 72% reduction in neutrophil influx, and a reduced C3 deposition. Furthermore, when H17 was administered i.v. at a 1 mg/kg dose, inflammation was reduced by 31%. We propose that CRIT-H17 is a potential therapeutic agent against CP complement-mediated inflammatory tissue destruction.

Animals↗

Genetic polymorphism of the complement C2 in Japanese.

Genetic polymorphism of the second component of human complement (C2) was investigated in 521 unrelated healthy adult Japanese using isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gel followed by a specific hemolytic overlay method. Besides the phenotypes reported previously (C, AC and BC), a relatively infrequent double-banded phenotype (tentatively named A'C) was observed. Moreover, a homozygous variant (A) and a heterozygous "double" variant (AB) were observed. The estimated frequencies for the common allele, C2c(= C2(1)), and the variant alleles, C2A, C2B(= C2(2)) and C2A' were 0.939, 0.034, 0.022, and 0.006, respectively. The results of further typing for HLA-A, -B, -C specificities indicated the presence of significant associations of C2A with HLA-B15 and with A26, and of C2B with HLA-Bw61. These findings support our previous observation that in Japanese there are allelic combinations showing linkage disequilibrium between C2 and HLA loci which are different from those in Caucasians, and that the C2 structural locus is more closely linked to HLA-B than to HLA-A. C2 hemolytic activities of each phenotypes were assayed. The mean activity of type AC sera was significantly higher than that of type C or type BC, while there were no differences in the activities among the types C, BC or A'C. Also presented are two pedigrees demonstrating the segregation of C2 with HLA alleles in which a homozygous C2 A or C2 B individual was observed.

Alleles↗

Murine complement C2 and factor B genomic and cDNA cloning reveals different mechanisms for multiple transcripts of C2 and B.

Murine genomic and cDNA clones were isolated to ascertain the mechanisms accounting for previously recognized multiple forms of complement C2 and factor B mRNA and to analyze structural similarities with the corresponding human gene products (C2, 74% and B, 85%, amino acid identity). Like the human Bf gene, murine Bf and C2 each consist of 18 exons with similar intron-exon organizations. The murine C2 gene (20 kilobases) is more than three times the size of Bf (6 kilobases) due to the presence of large intronic segments separating the exons encoding the NH2-terminal binding and central (von Willebrand factor) domains. Evidence from cDNA clones shows that the two C2 transcripts are generated by an alternative splice at the donor site of exon 14 producing long and short C2 mRNA species that differ by 21 base pairs encoding a region within the binding pocket (amino acids 636-642 (GSTCKDH)) of the serine proteinase domain. Tissue-specific multiple factor B transcripts are generated by alternative transcriptional initiation. From the structure of these transcripts the predicted regulation of expression and rates of translation of B programmed by the short and long mRNA species may differ, but the polypeptides are identical. These data indicate that different molecular mechanisms account for the multiple forms of C2 and factor B mRNA and that the structure of the different transcripts predicts differences in function and expression of the respective gene products.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A simple radial immunohemolysis assay for the measurement of functional complement C2 activity.

1. This study describes a simple radial immunohemolysis method for determining the hemolytic activity of the second component of complement (C2) in human serum. The assay is based on the recovery of hemolytic activity of normal serum which has been pretreated to inactivate endogenous C2 and then mixed with test serum containing an unknown amount of C2. 2. The pretreated serum, designated R2 reagent, is obtained by heating normal human sera under carefully standardized conditions of temperature, time, volume and type of test tube. 3. R2 reagent is incorporated into agarose together with hemolysin-sensitized erythrocytes, and spread on a plate. The test serum is placed in wells cut in the agarose and, after appropriate incubation, the diameters of the hemolytic areas are measured. The area of hemolysis is directly proportional to the logarithm of the serum concentration. As a standard for C2 functional activity, dilutions of a pool of normal sera are tested on the same plate. 4. The method is specific for C2 and can detect as little as 20% of the C2 in normal serum (about 6 micrograms C2 protein/ml). The error in reproducibility is about 3% of the mean. In normal serum, the lower confidence limit of the distribution of the C2 values (based on a sample of 80 individuals) corresponded to 70% of undiluted serum. 5. This method is suitable for use in clinical laboratories since it is simple, rapid, quantitative and inexpensive, and does not require special equipment.

Adolescent↗

Hereditary complement (C2) deficiency with dermatomyositis.

A 60 year old white man in previous good health presented with a 6 month history of progressive muscle weakness. Clinical and laboratory findings were typical of dermatomyositis. Muscle biopsy confirmed the presence of inflammatory myopathy; deposits of immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M (IgM) or third component of complement (C3) were not detected by immunofluorescence. No evidence was found for an associated neoplasm. An unexpected finding was the total absence of serum hemolytic complement activity. Further investigation revealed that the complement defect was attributable to a selective and total absence of the second component of complement (C2), as determined by both functional and immunoprecipitin assays. Family studies indicated that the defect was inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, as has been observed in the previously reported C2-deficient kindreds. This case demonstrates that typical muscle lesions of dermatomyositis can occur in the presence of a complement defect which would preclude activation of the classic (C1-C4-C2) complement pathway. The case is of further interest as one of a series of recently reported associations of rheumatic diseases with hereditary complement deficiencies. Study of the functional properties of the propositus' C2-deficient serum demonstrated normal generation of chemotactic activity in the presence of endotoxin or aggregated IgG, and normal or near normal bactericidal activity against Salmonella typhi O 901 and Hemophilus influenzae, type b. These findings emphasize the importance of the alternate (properdin) pathway of complement activiation in these functions.

Biopsy↗

Early manifestation and recognition of C2 complement deficiency in the form of pyogenic infection in infancy.

OBJECTIVE: Although frequently asymptomatic, C2 complement component deficiency may lead to severe pyogenic infections or lupus-like illness. In the present report, we describe infectious manifestations in infancy and childhood in our C2-deficient patients. METHOD: A retrospective study of clinical manifestation in three patients was carried out. C2 deficiency was proved both by undetectable serum C2 level and typical homozygous 28 bp deletion of the C2 gene. RESULTS: All patients were hospitalized at least once by the age of 12 months, each had one episode of meningitis in infancy, one also had arthritis with septicaemia. Infections of the respiratory tract were the causes of other hospitalizations. Two patients also suffered from frequent mild respiratory tract infections; in both patients, decreased immunoglobulin IgA and immunoglobulin IgG2 or immunoglobulin IgG3 levels were recorded. CONCLUSION: Our observations point to an early manifestation of C2 deficiency within the first year of life, with meningitis as the most severe complication. The severity of immunodeficiency may be influenced by concomitant deficiencies of immunoglobulin isotypes.

Bacterial Infections↗

Prevalence of the type I complement C2 deficiency gene in Swedish systemic lupus erythematosus patients.

The prevalence of type I complement C2 deficiency in Swedish systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients was investigated by DNA analysis. The characteristic 28 base pair deletion was determined by polymerase chain reaction analysis followed by gel electrophoresis. Five of the 86 patients (5.8%) retrieved from a defined population of 160,000 individuals were heterozygous for the C2Q0 gene compared with one heterozygote of 100 local blood donors (1%), the difference in prevalence not being significant. Among 26 other SLE patients, two patients who are siblings were C2Q0 homozygous. No distinctive clinical features among the patients with C2Q0 genes were obvious, although none had renal involvement.

Autoantibodies↗

The upstream sequence element of the C2 complement poly(A) signal activates mRNA 3' end formation by two distinct mechanisms.

The poly(A) signal of the C2 complement gene is unusual in that it possesses an upstream sequence element (USE) required for full activity in vivo. We describe here in vitro experiments demonstrating that this USE enhances both the cleavage and poly(A) addition reactions. We also show that the C2 USE can be cross-linked efficiently to a 55-kD protein that we identify as the polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB), implicated previously in modulation of pre-mRNA splicing. Mutation of the PTB-binding site significantly reduces the efficiency of the C2 poly(A) site both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, addition of PTB to reconstituted processing reactions enhances cleavage at the C2 poly(A) site, indicating that PTB has a direct role in recognition of this signal. The C2 USE, however, also increases the affinity of general polyadenylation factors independently for the C2 poly(A) signal as detected by enhanced binding of cleavage-stimulaton factor (CstF). Strikingly, this leads to a novel CstF-dependant enhancement of the poly(A) synthesis phase of the reaction. These studies both emphasize the interconnection between splicing and polyadenylation and indicate an unexpected flexibility in the organization of mammalian poly(A) sites.

Binding Sites↗