Group B Streptococcus Protein Target Limits Pathological Angiogenesis.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 23 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - New research shows the human hp59 gene or its protein HP59 could be used as a drug target or an antiangiogenesis vaccine.

Researchers believe the membrane protein interacts with CM101, a Group B streptococcus polysaccharide that is known to inhibit both pathological angiogenesis and tumor proliferation in humans and animals.

According to Changlin Fu and colleagues of Vanderbilt University's Department of Biochemistry, the human gene shares close identity with the sheep gene sp55, which interacts with CM101, encodes for a 495 amino acid polypeptide, and was initially isolated from the sheep lung endothelial cell cDNA library. "COS-7 cells transfected with a vector containing sp55 express the SP55 protein-bound CM101 in a concentration-dependent manner," said Fu and colleagues. "The corresponding human gene, hp59, was isolated from a human fetal lung cDNA library and had a predicted identity to SP55 of 86% over 495 amino acids," Fu and coworkers added.

The human gene can be identified in the vessels of tumors of the lungs, breast, colon, and other organs, the data showed, but not in normal human vessels, supporting the researchers' theory of its role in disease-associated angiogenesis.

In newborn infants, Group B streptococcus is a significant ...