M. Moyle et al., A HOOKWORM GLYCOPROTEIN THAT INHIBITS NEUTROPHIL FUNCTION IS A LIGANDOF THE INTEGRIN CD11B CD18, The Journal of biological chemistry, 269(13), 1994, pp. 10008-10015
The chronic survival of many endoparasites is dependent on the ability
of these organisms to escape the host immune response. Identification
of the molecular mechanisms by which these organisms evade this respo
nse may yield novel approaches in the development of anti-inflammatory
agents. We describe here the discovery and characterization of a nove
l 41-kilodalton glycoprotein from the canine hookworm (Ancylostoma can
inum) that potently inhibits CD11/CD18-dependent neutrophil function i
n vitro. Neutrophil inhibitory factor (NIF) blocks the adhesion of act
ivated human neutrophils to vascular endothelial cells as well as the
release of H2O2 from activated neutrophils, over a similar concentrati
on range (IC50 10-20 nM). Studies aimed at determining the nature of t
he NIF binding site on neutrophils revealed selective, high affinity b
inding of this protein to the integrin CD11b/CD18. A cDNA encoding NIF
was isolated from a canine hookworm cDNA library. NIF comprises a mat
ure polypeptide of 257 amino acids, preceded by a 17-amino acid leader
. The mature protein has 10 cysteines and has seven potential N-linked
glycosylation sites. NIF has no significant sequence homologies to an
y previously reported protein. As such, NIF represents a prototype of
a novel class of leukocyte function inhibitors.