Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 12496149
Infect. Immun. 2003 Jan;71(1):61-7
In addition to their effects on alveolar surface tension, some components of lung surfactant also have immunological functions. We found recently that the hydrophobic lung surfactant protein SP-C specifically binds to the lipid A region of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this study, we show that SP-C also interacts with CD14. Four observations showed cross talk between the three molecules SP-C, LPS, and CD14. (i) Like LBP, SP-C allows the binding of a fluorescent LPS to cells expressing CD14 (the other surfactant components were ineffective). (ii) Recombinant radiolabeled CD14 and SP-C (or a synthetic analog of SP-C) interact in a dose-dependent manner. (iii) LPS blocks the binding of radiolabeled CD14 to SP-C-coated wells. (iv) SP-C enhances the binding of radiolabeled CD14 to LPS-coated wells. These results, obtained with native murine SP-C and with three synthetic analogs, suggest that LPS and CD14 interact with the same region of SP-C and that binding of SP-C modifies the conformation of CD14 or the accessibility of its LPS-binding site, allowing it to bind LPS. This ability of SP-C to interact with the pattern recognition molecule CD14 extends the possible immunological targets of SP-C to a large panel of microorganisms that can enter the airways.