Blaser C, Kaufmann M, Pircher H
Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Department of Immunology, University of Freiburg, Germany.
J Immunol. 1998 Dec 15;161(12):6451-4.
The mast cell function-associated Ag (MAFA) is an inhibitory C-type lectin that was originally identified on the cell surface of a rat mucosal mast cell line, RBL-2H3. We have cloned the mouse homologue of the rat MAFA gene, and Northern blot analysis revealed that mouse MAFA (mMAFA) gene expression was strongly induced in effector CD8 T cells and lymphokine-activated NK cells but not in effector CD4 T cells and in mouse mast cells. Moreover, mMAFA gene expression was only found in effector CD8 T cells that had been primed in vivo with live virus because in vitro activated CD8 T cells did not express mMAFA. Primary sequence comparison revealed a high degree of conservation (89% similarity) between rat MAFA and mMAFA. Thus, the MAFA molecule in the mouse is a putative inhibitory receptor on anti-viral CD8 T cells induced in vivo and on NK cells.
肥大细胞功能相关抗原（MAFA）是一种抑制性C型凝集素，最初在大鼠黏膜肥大细胞系RBL - 2H3的细胞表面被鉴定出来。我们已经克隆了大鼠MAFA基因的小鼠同源物，Northern印迹分析显示，小鼠MAFA（mMAFA）基因表达在效应性CD8 T细胞和淋巴因子激活的NK细胞中被强烈诱导，但在效应性CD4 T细胞和小鼠肥大细胞中未被诱导。此外，mMAFA基因表达仅在经活病毒体内致敏的效应性CD8 T细胞中被发现，因为体外激活的CD8 T细胞不表达mMAFA。一级序列比较显示大鼠MAFA和mMAFA之间具有高度保守性（89%相似性）。因此，小鼠中的MAFA分子是体内诱导的抗病毒CD8 T细胞和NK细胞上的一种假定抑制性受体。
