P. Vaith et al., COMPLEMENT ACTIVATION BY C-REACTIVE PROTEIN ON THE HEP-2 CELL SUBSTRATE, International archives of allergy and immunology, 111(2), 1996, pp. 107-117
The complement (C) activation by C-reactive protein (CRP) in acute-pha
se sera is routinely tested in our laboratory by means of an indirect
immunofluorescence method (C3-IFT) on rat kidney sections. This C3-IFT
assay is based on the binding of CRP to the renal tissue followed by
the fixation of C4 and C3 components to distinct vessel-associated med
ullary structures as a result of CRP-mediated C activation in vitro. W
hile the activation cascade leading to the deposition of C4 and C3 cou
ld previously be deduced experimentally, we were unable as yet to visu
alize CRP and the components of the Cl complex on kidney sections when
testing patients' sera by indirect immunofluorescence. In an attempt
to analyze the mechanisms of unexpectedly negative C3-IFT results (e.
g. bacterial endocarditis) we employed monolayers of fixed HEp-2 cells
which have previously been shown to be a suitable substrate for CRP b
inding. By incubating purified native CRP supplemented with normal hum
an serum as a source of C we detected the C components Clq, Clr, Cls,
C4 and C3 in the same speckled immunofluorescent pattern on HEp-2 cell
nuclei as described characteristically for CRP binding. The serial ac
tivation steps from CRP up to C3 could also be followed on HEp-2 cells
using C3-IFT-positive acute-phase sera. However, certain C3-IFT-negat
ive acute-phase sera showed an arrest between Cls and C4 of the CRP-me
diated C activation cascade. HEp-2 cells can thus be used to monitor t
he process of autologous C activation initiated by endogeneous CRP in
patients' sera. In contrast to native CRP, urea-modified CRP (mCRP) di
d not bind to HEp-2 cell nuclei, but was detected in association with
distinct filamentous cytoplasmic structures. Unlike its native counter
part, binding of mCRP was not followed by a deposition of C components
.