Cloning of B cell-specific membrane tetraspanning molecule BTS possessing B cell proliferation-inhibitory function.
Lymphocyte proliferation is regulated by signals through antigen receptors, co-stimulatory receptors, and other positive and negative modulators. Several membrane tetraspanning molecules are also involved in the regulation of lymphocyte growth and death. We cloned a new B cell-specific tetraspanning (BTS) membrane molecule, which is similar to CD20 in terms of expression, structure and function. BTS is specifically expressed in the B cell line and its expression is increased after the pre-B cell stage. BTS is expressed in intracellular granules and on the cell surface. Overexpression of BTS in immature B cell lines induces growth retardation through inhibition of cell cycle progression and cell size increase without inducing apoptosis. This inhibitory function is mediated predominantly by the N terminus of BTS. The development of mature B cells is inhibited in transgenic mice expressing BTS, suggesting that BTS is involved in the in vivo regulation of B cells. These results indicate that BTS plays a role in the regulation of cell division and B cell growth.
Suenaga
Tadahiro
T
Department of Immunochemistry, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Arase
Hisashi
H
Yamasaki
Sho
S
Kohno
Masayuki
M
Yokosuka
Tadashi
T
Takeuchi
Arata
A
Hattori
Takamichi
T
Saito
Takashi
T
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte; D008565:Membrane Proteins