Expression of placental tissue protein 13 (PP13) in different human tissues was investigated by chemiluminescence Western blot analysis using monospecific anti-PP13 serum. In term placentae we detected a 16 kDa single protein band immunochemically identical to the purified PP13 antigen. After investigation of 26 types of human fetal and adult tissue, PP13 was also found in certain other normal and tumorous tissue extracts. It is not secreted into circulation as we could not find PP13 in sera of pregnant women. A full length cDNA with 578 bp insert was isolated by screening a human placental cDNA library with anti-PP13 serum. The open reading frame of the cDNA encodes for a 139-residue-long protein with a predicted molecular mass of 16.118 kDa, identical to the previously isolated and characterized PP13 antigen described in 1983. By alignment search of the protein databank PP13 is highly homologous (69 per cent) to the 16.5 kDa human eosinophil Charcot-Leyden Crystal protein, a unique dual-function lysophospholipase, a member of the beta-galactoside binding S-type animal lectin superfamily. Northern blot analysis revealed a 600 bp PP13 mRNA, detected only in placental tissue from 16 types of human healthy adult tissue. Lysophospholipase activity of PP13 was confirmed by(1)H and(31)P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements.
Copyright 1999 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.