A dendritic cell–specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3–grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN)–related protein is highly expressed on human liver sinusoidal endothelial …

AA Bashirova, TBH Geijtenbeek… - The Journal of …, 2001 - rupress.org
AA Bashirova, TBH Geijtenbeek, GCF Van Duijnhoven, SJ van Vliet, JBG Eilering, MP Martin…
The Journal of experimental medicine, 2001rupress.org
The discovery of dendritic cell (DC)-specific intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-3–
grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN) as a DC-specific ICAM-3 binding receptor that enhances
HIV-1 infection of T cells in trans has indicated a potentially important role for adhesion
molecules in AIDS pathogenesis. A related molecule called DC-SIGNR exhibits 77% amino
acid sequence identity with DC-SIGN. The DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR genes map within a 30-
kb region on chromosome 19p13. 2-3. Their strong homology and close physical location …
The discovery of dendritic cell (DC)-specific intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-3–grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN) as a DC-specific ICAM-3 binding receptor that enhances HIV-1 infection of T cells in trans has indicated a potentially important role for adhesion molecules in AIDS pathogenesis. A related molecule called DC-SIGNR exhibits 77% amino acid sequence identity with DC-SIGN. The DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR genes map within a 30-kb region on chromosome 19p13.2-3. Their strong homology and close physical location indicate a recent duplication of the original gene. Messenger RNA and protein expression patterns demonstrate that the DC-SIGN–related molecule is highly expressed on liver sinusoidal cells and in the lymph node but not on DCs, in contrast to DC-SIGN. Therefore, we suggest that a more appropriate name for the DC-SIGN–related molecule is L-SIGN, liver/lymph node–specific ICAM-3–grabbing nonintegrin. We show that in the liver, L-SIGN is expressed by sinusoidal endothelial cells. Functional studies indicate that L-SIGN behaves similarly to DC-SIGN in that it has a high affinity for ICAM-3, captures HIV-1 through gp120 binding, and enhances HIV-1 infection of T cells in trans. We propose that L-SIGN may play an important role in the interaction between liver sinusoidal endothelium and trafficking lymphocytes, as well as function in the pathogenesis of HIV-1.
rupress.org