Complement gene expression in neuroblastoma and astrocytoma cell lines of human origin.

Activation of the complement system is believed to be involved in degenerative processes of certain neurological diseases, including Alzheimer disease. Recent data have shown that the mRNAs for these proteins can be detected in brain-derived mRNA. In this study, C4 mRNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of mRNA from the human neuroblastoma cell lines IMR32, SK-SH and SK-MC, and the human astrocytoma cell line U373MG, while C3 expression was detected in SK-MC, SK-SH and U373MG cells. The SK-MC and U373MG cells expressed mRNA for C9. The mRNA for C1qB could not be detected in any of these cell lines.