Allograft inflammatory factory-1. A cytokine-responsive macrophage molecule expressed in transplanted human hearts.
Allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1), a cytokine-responsive macrophage molecule, was originally identified and cloned from rat cardiac allografts with chronic cardiac rejection. We performed the present study to determine whether AIF-1 was also involved in the inflammatory response associated with human cardiac transplant rejection. AIF-1 gene transcripts were identified by the reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in endomyocardial biopsy specimens from human heart transplants and in macrophage cell lines. In the 441-base pair coding region of the human and rat cDNAs, the nucleotide sequences were 86% identical and the deduced amino acid sequences were 90% identical. Consistent with our studies in the rat. AIF-1 was selectively expressed in human macrophage-like cell lines, and immunostaining in human heart allografts localized the AIF-1 gene product to a subset of CD68+ macrophages in the interstitial and perivascular spaces. The parallels between rat and human AIF-1 expression suggest that AIF-1 may have a common effect on the function of activated macrophages in cardiac allografts.
Utans
U
U
Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Pathology, Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Massachussets, USA.
Quist
W C
WC
McManus
B M
BM
Wilson
J E
JE
Arceci
R J
RJ
Wallace
A F
AF
Russell
M E
ME
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015870:Gene Expression; D006084:Graft Rejection; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008262:Macrophage Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
C112986:AIF1 protein, human; C100745:Aif1 protein, rat; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins