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Cutting Edge |
Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Tyler, TX, 75708
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Factor H plays a key role in the homeostasis of the C system. In its
absence, spontaneous activation of the alternative pathway of
complement occurs which leads to consumption of C components C3 and
factor B. In a deficient line of pigs, homozygous individuals die soon
after birth from C-mediated acute renal failure (12), and
factor H-deficient mice develop membranoproliferative
glomerulonephritis which was shown to be alternative pathway-dependent
(13). By recognizing polyanionic markers, primarily sialic
acid, and sulfated polysaccharides such as heparin on host cells and
tissues, factor H provides the alternative pathway of C with the
ability to discriminate between self and potential pathogens (11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). Factor H is normally present in plasma at high
concentrations (
50 mg/dl). Its structure is that of a string of 20
beads (domains) with different domains performing different functions.
The domains of factor H are each composed of
60 aa with three to
eight aa spacers between the domains (19, 20). The
N-terminal four C control protein domains (CCPs) regulate alternative
pathway activation, while at least three polyanion binding regions and
two additional C3b-binding sites are present in the C-terminal 16
domains (11, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29).
In the present report, a series of recombinant factor H proteins were examined each lacking one or more of the known polyanion and C3b-binding regions, but possessing the N-terminal C control region. These proteins were examined for their ability to discriminate between the standard activating cells used in C research (lacking polyanionic markers) and nonactivating cells possessing surface polyanions similar to human polyanionic markers. The results support the clinical and genetic observations in HUS patients, indicating that mutations affecting the C-terminal domains of factor H result in increased C activation on normal host tissues despite the presence of polyanionic markers.
| Materials and Methods |
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Factor H (30) was purified from normal human plasma as described previously. All proteins were stored at -75°C in Veronal-buffered saline (VBS). The concentration of factor H and all recombinant factor H (rH) proteins was determined at 280 nm using E1%1 cm of 12.4. Buffers used were: PBS, 10 mM sodium phosphate, 140 mM NaCl, 0.02% NaN3 (pH 7.4); VBS, 5 mM veronal, 145 mM NaCl, 0.02% NaN3 (pH 7.3), VBS containing 0.1% gelatin (GVB); GVB containing 10 mM EDTA, and MgEDTA, 0.1 M MgCl2, 0.1 M EGTA (pH 7.3). Factor H-depleted serum (H-dpl serum) was prepared from normal human serum by immunoadsorption of factor H on anti-H-agarose in the presence of EDTA. The flowthrough from the immunoadsorbant column was concentrated to the original serum concentration by ultrafiltration using 10,000 molecular weight cutoff membranes. Dialysis against and storage in PBS containing 0.1 mM EDTA prevented spontaneous activation of C in the absence of factor H.
Preparation and purification of recombinant proteins
Site-specific deletions in human factor H cDNA were created by overlap extension PCR as previously described (24). The constructs were inserted into pBacPAK 8/9 (Clontech Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA) or pFastBac1 (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD). Spodoptera frugiperda cells were transfected with the constructs and the cells were maintained in complete insect media containing 10% FCS. Recombinant proteins were purified from media supernatants by immunoadsorption on anti-factor H-Sepharose. Recombinant factor H was eluted with 6 M guanidine, dialyzed against VBS, and concentrated by ultrafiltration (24).
Hemolytic assays
Lysis of sheep and rabbit erythrocytes was measured by mixing on ice 2.5 µl 0.1 M MgEGTA, various amounts of H-dpl serum containing factor H or rH, and sufficient GVB to bring the mix to 40 µl. The H-dpl serum containing factor H or rH was prepared on ice by mixing H-dpl serum and sufficient factor H or recombinant factor H to reestablish the control protein to its normal plasma concentration, which in undiluted plasma is 3.3 µM factor H. Thus, for example, in reactions with 20% serum, the molar concentration of factor H or rH was also 20% of normal. Cells (10 µl containing 1 x 107 cells) were added, the mix was immediately transferred to a 37°C water bath and incubated for 20 min. To determine the extent of hemolysis, 250 µl cold GVB containing 10 mM EDTA was added, the samples were centrifuged, and the OD of supernatant was determined at 414 nm. The percent lysis was determined by subtracting the A414 in the absence of serum and dividing by the maximum possible A414 determined by water lysis of erythrocytes.
| Results |
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Studies of the functional roles of different sites on factor H
(Fig. 1
) used proteins containing 5 and
10 domain deletions and designated rH
15, rH
610, rH
1116,
rH
1620, and rH
1120. The strategy used to make these deletions
(24) resulted in exact deletion of whole domains starting
from the first Cys of each domain and ending with the residue before
the first Cys of the next expressed domain. This strategy removes the
domains as well as the entire interdomain linker on the C-terminal side
of the deleted domains. The proteins were produced in a baculovirus
expression system, purified by immunoaffinity chromatography
(24), and stored frozen at -75°C before analysis.
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The human alternative pathway of C spontaneously activates on and
lyses rabbit erythrocytes which possess minimal surface polyanions.
Sheep erythrocytes, in contrast, possess high levels of sialic
acid-containing polysaccharides, as do most human cells and tissues.
Sheep erythrocytes are used as the standard nonactivator for human C
analysis. The ability of deletion mutants of factor H to recognize
surface polyanionic markers and prevent activation of the alternative
pathway was examined by replacing normal human factor H with various
purified recombinant factor H proteins lacking regions known to contain
polyanion binding sites. This reconstituted serum was then examined for
its ability to lyse rabbit erythrocytes (Fig. 2
) which verified that a functional
alternative pathway had been reestablished in the H-dpl serum. Similar
assays using sheep erythrocytes examined the ability of the various
deletion mutants of factor H to recognize the presence of polyanions on
the cell surface and block activation and lysis of those cells. Human
erythrocytes could not be used because they possess the membrane-bound
regulators decay-accelerating factor and C receptor 1
which block C activation, and CD59 which blocks lysis even if the C
system does activate on that surface (31).
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1120),
the system lost the ability to recognize the sheep erythrocyte as a
nonactivator and these cells were lysed (Fig. 2
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| Discussion |
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The alternative pathway of C is a component of the innate immune system and two proteins of this system have been identified in sea urchins (32, 33, 34), suggesting that it arose before both adaptive immunity and the other C pathways. In humans, the alternative pathway of C activates continuously by depositing C3b on all surfaces in contact with plasma (35). Amplification of the initial C3b and subsequent activation of the full C system is controlled on host surfaces by regulatory proteins, some of which are membrane bound and some of which are fluid phase proteins (18, 31). Factor H is the primary fluid phase regulator and it is responsible for controlling spontaneous fluid phase activation as well as activation on host cells. Host markers that bind factor H and stop activation include polyanions such as clusters of sialic acid and sulfated proteoglycans such as heparin. Microorganisms lacking these markers are attacked by the alternative pathway. Many pathogens either bear polyanionic structures that mimic host markers or have developed cell surface receptors specific for factor H (27, 36, 37, 38, 39).
The N-terminal four domains of factor H exhibit all of the C regulatory
activities needed to prevent runaway fluid phase alternative pathway
amplification (21, 22, 23). As a result, familial HUS patients
with truncation or point mutations in factor H often maintain
significant plasma C3 and factor B levels, but show episodic HUS and
renal failure (2, 9, 10). The 16 C-terminal domains of
factor H have been shown to have numerous functions which control the
regulatory activity of the N-terminal domains (Fig. 1
). There are two
additional C3b-binding sites (18, 24) which raise the
affinity of factor H for C3b clusters on the surface of activating
cells. There are at least three polyanion-binding sites
(24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29) distributed as indicated in Fig. 1
. The results
presented in Figs. 2
and 3
indicate that the functional sites at the C
terminus are the most important sites for blocking alternative pathway
activation on polyanion-bearing surfaces as would be found in the host.
Fig. 2
, top and middle panels show
that human H and full-length rH controlled runaway fluid phase
consumption or there would have been no lysis with either cell type.
Furthermore, spontaneous activation on sheep erythrocytes was
controlled while rabbit cells were attacked and lysed, indicating
normal target recognition by recombinant factor H. However, truncations
of the protein resulting in the loss of the C-terminal five domains
(Figs. 2
and 3
, bottom panels) resulted in lysis of both
cell types, indicating a loss of discriminatory functions in these
recombinant proteins. As the figures show, lysis of the sheep cells was
less aggressive than lysis of rabbit cells. This may have been due to
the presence of polyanion binding site no. 1 located in domains 67
(24, 29), which appeared to participate in recognition and
whose removal (rH
610) did cause some tendency for lysis of sheep
cells even in the presence of the C-terminal domains (Fig. 3
, upper panel). Although the proper experiment would be a
double deletion mutant (rH
610, 1620), more specific mutations
targeting specific crucial amino acids at each site would be more
informative and these mutants are currently under development.
Especially relevant will be identification of residues that
specifically inactivate only C3b binding or only polyanion binding at
each site. A detailed model of the polyanion binding site in
domains 1920 was analyzed by Perkins and Goodship (11).
This model predicted a heparin-binding site and identified the contact
residues which correlated with reported mutation sites in HUS patients
(11).
Although there is ample evidence that these deletion mutants fold and
function as expected (18, 24), the deletion of domains
does alter the spacial distance between functional sites. Despite this
change, the rH
1115 protein was fully functional even though the
spacial distance between the N-terminal control site and the
polyanion-binding site in CCP 1920 was shortened by as much as 200
Å. This observation indicates that increased affinity for the cell
surface may be more crucial to controlling C activation than any
specific spacial relationship between the domains. This would be
entirely consistent with the extended and very flexible structure
of CCP-containing proteins observed in electron microscopic images
(40, 41, 42) and the finding that pathogen receptors that hold
factor H at the cell surface bind at a variety of different sites along
the factor H molecule from domain 6 to domain 20 (27, 38, 39, 43).
Even though recent genetic and functional studies of HUS patients have been very enlightening, no linear relationship is yet apparent between particular mutations and clinical presentations. At present it is only possible to conclude that mutations affecting CCP 1920 predispose individuals to HUS (10). Complicating this picture is the fact that affected individuals have been reported with dominant and recessive pedigrees, sporadic to chronic symptoms, and C levels from normal to hypocomplementemic. Additional genetic differences most certainly predispose patients to or protect them from clinical pathology. Nevertheless, the unique features of alternative pathway activation and factor H-mediated control may shed some light on these observations. Normal levels of factor H limit both fluid phase and surface activation and maintain normal C3 and factor B levels. As factor H levels drop, surface activation becomes more aggressive (44) while fluid phase activation is controlled and C3 and B levels remain high. Thus, subnormal plasma factor H concentrations can cause C activation and HUS symptoms, possibly induced by triggering events. In this way, a heterozygous genotype can yield a dominant phenotype in one individual and a recessive phenotype in another where the levels of the normal gene product are only slightly different. As H levels drop below 30% (as might occur in a homozygous individual with a mutation which limits, but does not prevent transport), fluid phase consumption increases and blood may have a limited ability to mount a significant attack even on susceptible tissues. Depending on the particular mutation and its effect on the functions and transport of factor H (as in the case of C-terminal truncation mutants (5, 9, 10) and the deletion mutants studied in this report), one sees a situation where there is sufficient factor H control of fluid phase activation due to the N-terminal four domains, but a lack of control of surface activation as demonstrated in this study. Finally, heterozygous individuals with a normal factor H gene and homozygotes with two different mutations could present with very different phenotypes depending on the nature of the particular mutations and their affect on function and transport. Clarification of these effects will require detailed functional analyses of individual mutations in recombinant factor H and these data must be correlated with individual phenotypes of affected patients before the root causes of the pathology of familial HUS can be understood in more detail.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Michael K. Pangburn, Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Tyler, TX, 75708. E-mail address: michael.pangburn{at}uthct.edu ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: HUS, hemolytic uremic syndrome; CCP, C control protein domain; VBS, Veronal-buffered saline; H-dpl serum, factor H-depleted serum; rH, recombinant factor H. ![]()
Received for publication July 10, 2002. Accepted for publication September 3, 2002.
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