Immunohistochemical distribution of the tetraspanin CD9 in normal porcine tissues.

The tetra-membrane-spanning protein, CD9 is a 24-27 kDa cell surface glycoprotein expressed in a wide variety of human cells being involved in a variety of cell processes, including signaling, adhesion, motility, fertilization and tumor cells metastasis. By means of a polyclonal antibody (N1) raised against recombinant swine CD9 protein, we studied the immunohistochemical expression of CD9 on different normal swine tissues. Immunochemistry shows that swine CD9 was distribute in a similar form than in human tissues, being present on epithelial cells of lung, liver, kidney, skin, tonsil, testis (epididymo), gut mucosa, uterus and mama. Furthermore, polyclonal antibody against swine CD9 reacts with white matter from cerebrum and cerebellum, peripheral nerves fibers and Hassal corpuscle from thymus and ovum. Platelets react strongly with our antibody, but monocytes and neutrophils react lightly. These results suggest that CD9 antigen should play a similar functional role in swine and human and therefore studies on CD9 on swine as an animal model would allow new knowledge about its role in adhesion, fertilization and tumor metastasis among other important biomedical processes.