title: M-ficolin is expressed on monocytes and is a lectin binding to N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and mediates monocyte adhesion and phagocytosis of Escherichia coli.
abstract: Ficolins are a group of multimeric proteins that contain collagen-like and fibrinogen-like (FBG) sequences. Three types of ficolins have been characterized: H-, L- and M-ficolins. Both H- and L-ficolins have demonstrated lectin activities. In the present study, the FBG domain of M-ficolin was expressed and shown to bind to N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. M-ficolin mRNA was expressed in monocytes but not in the more differentiated macrophages and dendritic cells. By flow cytometry, surface biotinylation and immunoprecipitation, we showed that M-ficolin was associated with the surface of promonocytic U937 cells. M-ficolin transiently expressed in COS-7 cells was also clearly detected on the cell surface by immunoprecipitation. By flow cytometry, M-ficolin was detected on peripheral blood monocytes but not on lymphocytes or granulocytes. Immobilized rabbit anti-M-ficolin F(ab')2 mediated U937 cell adhesion, and the antibody also inhibited phagocytosis of Escherichia coli K-12 by U937 cells. Therefore, M-ficolin might act as a phagocytic receptor or adaptor on circulating monocytes for micro-organism recognition and may potentially mediate monocyte adhesion.
authors.affiliation: National University Medical Institute, Singapore.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Teh
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000117:Acetylglucosamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism; D009000:Monocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D020298:U937 Cells; D000097604:Ficolins
chemical_list: D000117:Acetylglucosamine; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D005340:Fibrinogen; D037102:Lectins; D000097604:Ficolins