Regulation of complement functional efficiency by histidine-rich glycoprotein.

The modulation of complement functional efficiency by serum histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) was investigated. Addition of exogenous HRG to prewarmed diluted serum, followed immediately by sensitized sheep erythrocytes (EA), resulted in enhanced hemolysis. However, when HRG was incubated with diluted serum for 10 minutes at 37 degrees C, inhibition of hemolysis occurred. The biphasic modulation of complement function was also obtained with the complement alternative pathway when HRG was added to diluted serum for hemolysis of rabbit erythrocytes. Partial reduction of complement functional activity was shown when serum was absorbed by an HRG-Sepharose 6MB column. Western blot analysis showed that complement C8, C9, factor D, and S-protein in diluted serum were bound by nylon membrane-immobilized HRG. However, by immunoprecipitation of relatively undiluted serum with anti-HRG IgG beads, HRG was found to coprecipitate with S-protein and plasminogen, which suggested that HRG may complex with these proteins in serum. In functional tests, HRG inhibited C8 hemolytic activity, probably by preventing C8 binding to EAC1-7 cells. HRG also enhanced polymerization of purified C9 as well as the generation of a 45-Kd C9 fragment. Such an effect was even more pronounced in the presence of divalent cations with the reaction mixtures of C9 and HRG. Partial dimerization of C9 was shown when exogenous HRG was added to normal serum. In contrast, polymerization of serum C9 was inhibited by exogenous HRG during poly I:C activation of serum or incubation under low ionic strength conditions. HRG was further shown to inhibit factor D-mediated cleavage of factor B when bound by cobra venom factor. The molecular basis by which HRG regulates serum complement function is not clear. Hypothetically, the tandem repetitions of a consensus histidine-rich penta-peptide sequence in HRG may provide a highly charged area that interacts with complement components.