CD33/Siglec-3 binding specificity, expression pattern, and consequences of gene deletion in mice.

Mouse CD33/Siglec-3 (mCD33) is the apparent ortholog of human CD33/Siglec-3 (hCD33), a member of the Siglec (sialic acid-binding Ig superfamily lectin) family of sialic acid-recognizing cell-surface lectins. We examined the binding specificity and expression pattern of mCD33 and explored its functions by generating mice deficient in this molecule. Like hCD33, mCD33 is expressed on myeloid precursors in the bone marrow, albeit mostly in the more mature stages of the granulocytic lineage. Moreover, unlike hCD33, mCD33 in peripheral blood is primarily expressed on granulocytes. Also, unlike hCD33, mCD33 did not bind to alpha2-3- or alpha2-6-linked sialic acids on lactosamine units. Instead, it showed distinctive sialic acid-dependent binding only to the short O-linked glycans of certain mucins and weak binding to the sialyl-Tn epitope. Binding was enhanced by removal of 9-O-acetyl groups and attenuated by truncation of the glycerol-like side chain of sialic acids. Mice deficient in CD33 were viable and fertile in a controlled-access specific-pathogen-free vivarium, showed no major morphological or histological abnormalities, had no changes in bone marrow or peripheral leukocyte subpopulations, and had very minor differences in biochemical and erythrocyte parameters. Cellular responses to intraperitoneally injected proinflammatory stimulants, as well as subsequent interleukin-6 secretion, were also apparently unaffected. These results indicate substantial species differences in CD33 expression patterns and ligand recognition and suggest functional degeneracy between mCD33 and the other CD33-related Siglec proteins expressed on cells of the myeloid lineage.

Role of protein kinase C in the phosphorylation of CD33 (Siglec-3) and its effect on lectin activity.

CD33 (Siglec-3) is a marker of myeloid progenitor cells, mature myeloid cells, and most myeloid leukemias. Although its biologic role remains unknown, it has been demonstrated to function as a sialic acid-specific lectin and a cell adhesion molecule. Many of the Siglecs (including CD33) have been reported to be tyrosine phosphorylated in the cytosolic tails under specific stimulation conditions. Here we report that CD33 is also a serine/threonine phosphoprotein, containing at least 2 sites of serine phosphorylation in its cytoplasmic domain, catalyzed by protein kinase C (PKC). Phosphorylation could be augmented by exposure to the protein kinase-activating cytokines interleukin 3, erythropoietin, or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, in a cytokine-dependent cell line, TF-1. The CD33 cytoplasmic tail was phosphorylated by PKC in vitro, in a Ca(++)/lipid-dependent manner. CHOK1 cells stably expressing CD33 with cytoplasmic tails of various length also showed phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-dependent phosphorylation of CD33. Inhibition of CD33 phosphorylation with pharmacologic agents resulted in an increase of sialic acid-dependent rosette formation. Furthermore, the occupancy of the lectin site affected its basal level of phosphorylation. Rosette formation by COS cells expressing a form of CD33 lacking its cytoplasmic domain was not affected by these same agents. These data indicate that CD33 is a phosphoprotein, that its phosphorylation may be controlled by PKC downstream of cytokine stimulation, and that its phosphorylation is cross-regulated with its lectin activity. Notably, although this is the first example of serine/threonine phosphorylation in the subfamily of CD33-like Siglecs, some of the other members also have putative target sites in their cytoplasmic tails.