The cell membrane-bound forms of mini-factor H with 1-4 short consensus repeats (fH-PI) and factor I (fI-PI) were constructed. Swine endothelial cell (SEC) lines and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell expressing fH-PI or fI-PI were established and confirmed by flow cytometry. The cell lysate of the SEC line expressing fH-PI showed strong cofactor activity for the cleavage of C3b, and fI-PI demonstrated the protease activity for C4b and C3b not only in the fluid phase but also on the cell membrane. In addition, fH-PI blocked human complement-mediated cell lysis by approximately 30-40%. An SEC line with a low expression of fI-PI showed a weak inhibition of cell lysis in human serum, whereas a CHO cell transfectant with a high expression of fI-PI showed over a 60% inhibition of cell lysis. The results suggest that fH-PI and fI-PI have potential for use in clinical xenotransplantation.
Copyright 1999 Academic Press.