Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Boix, Ester

Titel

Eosinophil cationic protein

Ist Teil von

• Methods in Enzymology, 2001, Vol.341, p.287-305

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Science & Technology

Erscheinungsjahr

2001

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is one of the basic proteins contained in the matrix of secondary eosinophil granules. ECP is synthesized as a preprotein with a signal peptide of 27 residues and a mature protein of 133 amino acids. The gene for ECP (RNS3) is located on the q24–q31 region of the human chromosome 14 in the same region as the EDN gene and is composed of a noncoding exon and a coding exon, separated by a single intron. ECP was generated from an ECP/EDN precursor gene about 30 million years ago at an evolutionary rate among the highest of all studied primate genes. This chapter describes the methodology for ECP purification and characterization, including specific protocols from the purification of the native or recombinant protein to most of the available functional assays to analyze ECP ribonucleolytic and biological properties. A review of its clinical application as a marker of eosinophil activation in the diagnosis of inflammatory diseases is also included in the chapter. An analysis of the three-dimensional structure is provided in the chapter to indicate the putative key residues at the catalytic and substrate binding sites.