PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martin Schicht
AU  - Felix Rausch
AU  - Susetta Finotto
AU  - Martina Mathews
AU  - Anja Mattil
AU  - Melanie Schubert
AU  - Beate Koch
AU  - Maximilian Traxdorf
AU  - Christopher Bohr
AU  - Dieter Worlitzsch
AU  - Wolfgang Brandt
AU  - Fabian Garreis
AU  - Saadettin Sel
AU  - Friedrich Paulsen
AU  - Lars Bräuer
TI  - SFTA3, a novel protein of the lung: three-dimensional structure, characterisation and immune activation
AID  - 10.1183/09031936.00179813
DP  - 2014 Aug 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - 447--456
VI  - 44
IP  - 2
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/2/447.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/2/447.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Aug 01; 44
AB  - The lung constantly interacts with numerous pathogens. Thus, complex local immune defence mechanisms are essential to recognise and dispose of these intruders. This work describes the detection, characterisation and three-dimensional structure of a novel protein of the lung (surfactant-associated protein 3 (SFTA3/SP-H)) with putative immunological features. Bioinformatics, biochemical and immunological methods were combined to elucidate the structure and function of SFTA3. The tissue-specific detection and characterisation was performed by using electron microscopy as well as fluorescence imaging. Three-dimensional structure generation and analysis led to the development of specific antibodies and, as a consequence, to the localisation of a novel protein in human lung under consideration of cystic fibrosis, asthma and sepsis. In vitro experiments revealed that lipopolysaccharide induces expression of SFTA3 in the human lung alveolar type II cell line A549. By contrast, the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-23 inhibit expression of SFTA3 in A549. Sequence- and structure-based prediction analysis indicated that the novel protein is likely to belong to the family of lung surfactant proteins. The results suggest that SFTA3 is an immunoregulatory protein of the lung with relevant protective functions during inflammation at the mucosal sites. SFTA3: a novel lung protein with putative protective and immunological functions during inflammation in lung diseases http://ow.ly/tsnne