Dendritic cells express a type cell-surface receptor, CD205 that plays a role in antigen capture and delivery to the endocytic pathway. Besides DCs, high CD205 expression is also detected on thymic epithelial cells but B cells, macrophages, and T cells have limited or no expression. CD205 has been characterized in several animal species except swine. The aim of this work was to characterize porcine CD205 and mRNA expression on different cells and tissues involved in immune responses. A complete porcine CD205 sequence of 5175bp was obtained from porcine thymus cDNA by PCR gene-walking strategy and this gene encoded a protein of 1723 amino acids. The multi-domain structure reported for murine, human, and bovine CD205 was also conserved in porcine with an overall amino acid identity of 74, 81, and 85%, respectively. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of the CD205 mRNA profiles in normal porcine tissues and cells showed that thymus and Langerhans cells expressed the highest levels. Further characterization of porcine CD205 will lead to better understanding of the role of this receptor and development of contemporary strategies for antigen targeting to DCs in swine.
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