[HTML][HTML] Role of H2-calponin in regulating macrophage motility and phagocytosis

QQ Huang, MM Hossain, K Wu, K Parai… - Journal of Biological …, 2008 - Elsevier
QQ Huang, MM Hossain, K Wu, K Parai, RM Pope, JP Jin
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2008Elsevier
The actin cytoskeleton plays a major role in cell motility that is essential for the function of
phagocytes. Calponin is an actin-associated regulatory protein. Here we report the finding of
significant levels of the h2 isoform of calponin in peripheral blood cells of myeloid lineage.
To study the functional significance, h2-calponin gene (Cnn2) interrupted mice were
constructed. Germ line transmission of the Cnn2-flox-neo allele was obtained in chimeras
from two independent clones of targeted embryonic stem cells. The insertion of the neo R …
The actin cytoskeleton plays a major role in cell motility that is essential for the function of phagocytes. Calponin is an actin-associated regulatory protein. Here we report the finding of significant levels of the h2 isoform of calponin in peripheral blood cells of myeloid lineage. To study the functional significance, h2-calponin gene (Cnn2) interrupted mice were constructed. Germ line transmission of the Cnn2-flox-neo allele was obtained in chimeras from two independent clones of targeted embryonic stem cells. The insertion of the neoR cassette into intron 2 of the Cnn2 gene resulted in a significant knockdown of h2-calponin expression. Removing the frt-flanked neoR cassette by FLP1 recombinase rescued the knockdown effect. Cre recombinase-induced deletion of the loxP-flanked exon 2 eliminated the expression of h2-calponin protein. H2-calponin-free mice showed reduced numbers of peripheral blood neutrophils and monocytes. H2-calponin-free macrophages demonstrated a higher rate of proliferation and faster migration than that of h2-calponin-positive cells, consistent with a faster diapedesis of peripheral monocytes and neutrophils. H2-calponin-free macrophages showed reduced spreading in adhesion culture together with decreased tropomyosin in the actin cytoskeleton. The lack of h2-calponin also significantly increased macrophage phagocytotic activity, suggesting a novel mechanism to regulate phagocyte functions.
Elsevier