Maru Yoshiro
   Department   School of Medicine, School of Medicine
   Position   Professor and Division head
Article types Original article
Language English
Peer review Peer reviewed
Title Human serum amyloid A3 (SAA3) protein, expressed as a fusion protein with SAA2, binds the oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor.
Journal Formal name:PloS one
Abbreviation:PLoS One
ISSN code:(1932-6203)1932-6203(Linking)
Volume, Issue, Page 10(3),pp.e0118835
Author and coauthor Tomita Takeshi*, Ieguchi Katsuaki, Sawamura Tatsuya, Maru Yoshiro*
Authorship Last author,Corresponding author
Publication date 2015
Summary Serum amyloid A3 (SAA3) possesses characteristics distinct from the other serum amyloid A isoforms, SAA1, SAA2, and SAA4. High density lipoprotein contains the latter three isoforms, but not SAA3. The expression of mouse SAA3 (mSAA3) is known to be up-regulated extrahepatically in inflammatory responses, and acts as an endogenous ligand for the toll-like receptor 4/MD-2 complex. We previously reported that mSAA3 plays an important role in facilitating tumor metastasis by attracting circulating tumor cells and enhancing hyperpermeability in the lungs. On the other hand, human SAA3 (hSAA3) has long been regarded as a pseudogene, which is in contrast to the abundant expression levels of the other isoforms. Although the nucleotide sequence of hSAA3 is very similar to that of the other SAAs, a single oligonucleotide insertion in exon 2 causes a frame-shift to generate a unique amino acid sequence. In the present study, we identified that hSAA3 was transcribed in the hSAA2-SAA3 fusion transcripts of several human cell lines. In the fusion transcript, hSAA2 exon 3 was connected to hSAA3 exon 1 or hSAA3 exon 2, located approximately 130kb downstream from hSAA2 exon 3 in the genome, which suggested that it is produced by alternative splicing. Furthermore, we succeeded in detecting and isolating hSAA3 protein for the first time by an immunoprecipitation-enzyme linked immune assay system using monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies that recognize the hSAA3 unique amino acid sequence. We also demonstrated that hSAA3 bound oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor (oxLDL receptor, LOX-1) and elevated the phosphorylation of ERK, the intracellular MAP-kinase signaling protein.
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0118835
PMID 25738827