Studies on the Leukocyte-common Antigen: Structure, Function, and Evolutionary Conservation
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Excerpt
The leukocyte-common antigen (L-CA, CD45) is a family of large-molecular-weight glycoproteins expressed on the surface of all cells of hematopoietic origin except erythrocytes and platelets. The function of this family of molecules has not been well understood; however, studies using antibodies against L-CA have implicated the family in lymphocyte activation and proliferation (for review, see Thomas 1989). We recently developed a mouse T-cell clone that is deficient in the surface expression of L-CA (Pingel and Thomas 1989). This clone is impaired in certain aspects of proliferation, implicating L-CA in the regulation of lymphocyte cell division. Here, we correlate our functional studies with our previous results on the structure of the L-CA family and present a model to account for these results.
Leukocyte-common Antigen Structure
The L-CA glycoprotein consists of a heavily glycosylated, amino-terminal external domain, a single-membrane-spanning region, and a large cytoplasmic domain. L-CA is encoded by a single structural...
