Yeast-secreted recombinant extracellular domain of human CD105 antigen is able to bind TGF-beta type II receptor in vitro.

Human CD105 antigen, a type I integral membrane glycoprotein, is expressed as homodimer and oligomer by human endothelial cells, and forms a heteromeric association with TGF-beta signaling receptors I and II. Several mutations of CD105 antigen gene are involved in a vascular disorder known as hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia type 1. The proposed mechanism by which CD105 is involved in said disorder is haploinsufficiency. We report expression and characterization of human CD105 antigen extracellular domain in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Different strategies to influence the release of heterologous proteins in the medium, such as alteration of cell wall integrity or coexpression of protein disulfide isomerase, were addressed. Purified extracellular domain of human CD105 antigen retains capacity to bind human TGF-beta receptor II in vitro.