Structure and function of the pentraxins

• Published in: Current opinion in immunology Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 54 - 64
• Main Authors: Gewurz, Henry, Zhang, Xiao-Hui, Lint, Thomas Franklin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-02-1995
• Subjects: Alzheimer Disease - metabolism; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; C-Reactive Protein - chemistry; C-Reactive Protein - metabolism; C-Reactive Protein - physiology; Complement System Proteins - metabolism; Humans; Lung Diseases - metabolism; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Phylogeny; Serum Amyloid A Protein - chemistry; Serum Amyloid A Protein - metabolism; Serum Amyloid A Protein - physiology; IL—interleukin; C4bp—C4-binding protein; NK—natural killer; Ig—immunoglobulin; TNF—tumor necrosis factor; PTX—pentraxin; CRP—C-reactive protein; mAb—monoclonal antibody; β 2m —β 2-microglobulin; AP—amyloid P component; C/EBP—CAAT-enhancer binding protein; C—complement; FP—female protein; TSG—TNF-stimulated gene; HNF—hepatocyte nuclear factor; SAP—serum amyloid P component
• ISSN: 0952-7915; 1879-0372
• DOI: 10.1016/0952-7915(95)80029-8

Over the past two years, the three-dimensional structure of the serum amyloid P component was defined by X-ray diffraction, the first such visualization of a pentraxin. Binding sites for calcium, ligands and complement were identified. New fusion proteins with amino acid sequence homology to the pentraxins were described, and new insights were gained into pentraxin phylogeny, biosynthesis, ligands, complement activation, leukocyte reactivity and biological functions
in vivo.