Glycophorin C (GYPC; CD236/CD236R; glycoprotein beta; glycoconnectin; PAS-2) plays a functionally important role in maintaining erythrocyte shape and regulating membrane material properties, possibly through its interaction with protein 4.1. Moreover, it has previously been shown that membranes deficient in protein 4.1 exhibit decreased content of glycophorin C. It is also an

integral membrane protein An integral, or intrinsic, membrane protein (IMP) is a type of membrane protein that is permanently attached to the biological membrane. All ''transmembrane proteins'' are IMPs, but not all IMPs are transmembrane proteins. IMPs comprise a signi ...

of the

erythrocyte Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

and acts as the

receptor Receptor may refer to: * Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse *Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a ...

for the ''

Plasmodium falciparum ''Plasmodium falciparum'' is a Unicellular organism, unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of ''Plasmodium'' that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female ''Anopheles'' mosqu ...

'' protein PfEBP-2 (erythrocyte binding protein 2; baebl; EBA-140).

History

The antigen was discovered in 1960 when three women who lacked the antigen made anti-Gea in response to pregnancy. The antigen is named after one of the patients – a Mrs Gerbich. The following year a new but related antigen was discovered in a Mrs Yus for whom an antigen in this system is also named. In 1972 a numerical system for the antigens in this blood group was introduced.

Genomics

Despite the similar names glycophorin C and D are unrelated to the other three glycophorins which encoded on

chromosome 4 Chromosome 4 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 4 spans more than 186 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 6 and 6.5 percent of the t ...

at location 4q28-q31. These latter proteins are closely related. Glycophorin A and glycophorin B carry the

blood group A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates ...

MN and Ss

antigen In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...

s respectively. There are ~225,000 molecules of GPC and GPD per erythrocyte. Originally it was thought that glycophorin C and D were the result of a gene duplication event but it was only later realised that they were encoded by the same gene. Glycophorin D (GPD) is generated from the glycophorin C

messenger RNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of synthesizing a protein. mRNA is created during the p ...

by leaky translation at an in frame AUG at

codon The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

30: glycophorin D =

glycophorin A glycophorin is a sialoglycoprotein of the membrane of a red blood cell. It is a membrane-spanning protein and carries sugar molecules. It is heavily glycosylated (60%). Glycophorins are rich in sialic acid, which gives the red blood cells a ver ...

C residues 30 to 128. This leaky translation appears to be a uniquely human trait. Glycophorin C (GPC) is a single

polypeptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

chain of 128

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

and is encoded by a

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

on the long arm of

chromosome 2 Chromosome 2 is one of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 2 is the second-largest human chromosome, spanning more than 242 million base pairs and representing almost e ...

(2q14-q21). The gene was first cloned in 1989 by High ''et al.'' The GPC gene is organized in four

exon An exon is any part of a gene that will form a part of the final mature RNA produced by that gene after introns have been removed by RNA splicing. The term ''exon'' refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene and to the corresponding sequen ...

s distributed over 13.5 kilobase pairs of DNA. Exon 1 encodes residues 1-16, exon 2 residues 17-35, exon 3 residues 36-63 and exon 4 residues 64-128. Exons 2 and 3 are highly homologous, with less than 5% nucleotide divergence. These exons also differ by a 9 amino acid insert at the 3' end of exon 3. The direct repeated segments containing these exons is 3.4 kilobase pairs long and may be derived from a recent duplication of a single ancestral domain. Exons 1, 2 and most of exon 3 encode the N-terminal extracellular domain while the remainder of exon 3 and exon 4 encode transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. Two

isoform A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene or gene family and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isof ...

s are known and the gene is expressed in a wide variety of tissues including

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

thymus The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or ''T cells'' mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. ...

stomach The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The stomach has a dilated structure and functions as a vital organ in the digestive system. The stomach i ...

breast The breast is one of two prominences located on the upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females and males develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secret ...

, adult

liver The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...

and erythrocyte. In the non erythroid cell lines, expression is lower than in the erythrocyte and the protein is differentially

glycosylated Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate (or 'glycan'), i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule (a glycosyl acceptor) in order to form a glycoconjugate. In biology (but not alw ...

. In the erythrocyte glycophorin C makes up ~4% of the membrane

sialoglycoprotein A sialoglycoprotein is a combination of sialic acid and glycoprotein, which is, itself, a combination of sugar and protein. These proteins often contain one or more sialyl oligosaccharides that are covalently bound to the rest of the molecule. Gl ...

s. The average number of O linked chains is 12 per molecule. The

is expressed early in the development of the erythrocyte, specifically in the erythroid burst-forming unit and erythroid

colony-forming unit In microbiology, colony-forming unit (CFU, cfu or Cfu) is a unit which estimates the number of microbial cells (bacteria, fungi, viruses etc.) in a sample that are viable, able to multiply via binary fission under the controlled conditions. Cou ...

. The mRNA from human erythroblasts is ~1.4 kilobases long and the transcription start site in erythroid cells has been mapped to 1050 base pairs 5' of the start codon. It is expressed early in development and before the

Kell antigen The Kell antigen system (also known as the Kell–Cellano system) is a human blood group system, that is, a group of antigens on the human red blood cell surface which are important determinants of blood type and are targets for autoimmune or al ...

s, Rhesus-associated glycoprotein, glycophorin A,

band 3 Band 3 anion transport protein, also known as anion exchanger 1 (AE1) or band 3 or solute carrier family 4 member 1 (SLC4A1), is a protein that is encoded by the gene in humans. Band 3 anion transport protein is a phylogenetically-preserved ...

, the

Rhesus antigen The Rh blood group system is a human blood group system. It contains proteins on the surface of red blood cells. After the ABO blood group system, it is the most likely to be involved in transfusion reactions. The Rh blood group system consists ...

and glycophorin B. In melanocytic cells Glycophorin C gene expression may be regulated by

MITF Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor also known as class E basic helix-loop-helix protein 32 or bHLHe32 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MITF'' gene. MITF is a basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper transcription factor ...

. GPC appears to be synthesized in excess in the erythrocyte and that the membrane content is regulated by band 4.1 (protein 4.1). Additional data on the regulation of glycophorin C i
here
In a study of this gene among the

Hominoidea Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

two finding unique to humans emerged: (1) an excess of non-synonymous divergence among species that appears to be caused solely by accelerated evolution and (2) the ability of the single GYPC gene to encode both the GPC and GPD proteins. The cause for this is not known but it was suggested that these findings might be the result of infection by ''Plasmodium falciparum''.

Molecular biology

After separation of red cell membranes by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and staining with

periodic acid-Schiff stain Periodicity or periodic may refer to: Mathematics * Bott periodicity theorem, addresses Bott periodicity: a modulo-8 recurrence relation in the homotopy groups of classical groups * Periodic function, a function whose output contains values tha ...

ing (PAS) four glycophorins have been identified. These have been named glycophorin A, B, C and D in order of the quantity present in the membrane – glycophorin A being the most and glycophorin D the least common. A fifth ( glycophorin E) has been identified within the human genome but cannot easily be detected on routine gel staining. In total the glycophorins constitute ~2% of the total erythrocyte membrane protein mass. Confusingly these proteins are also known under different nomenclatures but they are probably best known as the glycophorins. Glycophorin C was first isolated in 1978. Glycophorin C and D are minor sialoglycoproteins contributing to 4% and 1% to the PAS-positive material and are present at about 2.0 and 0.5 x 10⁵ copies/cell respectively. In polyacrylimide gels glycophorin C's apparent weight is 32 kilodaltons (32 kDa). Its structure is similar to that of other glycophorins: a highly glycoslated extracellular domain (residues 1-58), a transmembrane domain (residues 59-81) and an intracellular domain (residues 82-128). About 90% of the glycophorin C present in the erythrocyte is bound to the cytoskeleton and the remaining 10% moves freely within the membrane. Glycophorin D's apparent molecular weight is 23kDa. On average this protein has 6 O linked oligosaccharides per molecule. Within the erythrocyte it interacts with

band 4.1 Protein 4.1, also known as Beatty's Protein, is a protein associated with the cytoskeleton that in humans is encoded by the ''EPB41'' gene. Protein 4.1 is a major structural element of the erythrocyte membrane skeleton. It plays a key role in reg ...

(an 80-kDa protein) and p55 (a

palmitoylated Palmitoylation is the covalent attachment of fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, to cysteine (''S''-palmitoylation) and less frequently to serine and threonine (''O''-palmitoylation) residues of proteins, which are typically membrane protein ...

peripheral membrane phosphoprotein and a member of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase family) to form a

ternary complex A ternary complex is a protein complex containing three different molecules that are bound together. In structural biology, ''ternary complex'' can also be used to describe a crystal containing a protein with two small molecules bound, for example ...

that is critical for the shape and stability of erythrocytes. The major attachment sites between the erythrocyte

spectrin Spectrin is a cytoskeletal protein that lines the intracellular side of the plasma membrane in eukaryotic cells. Spectrin forms pentagonal or hexagonal arrangements, forming a scaffold and playing an important role in maintenance of plasma membr ...

actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of over ...

cytoskeleton The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is compos ...

and the lipid bilayer are glycophorin C and

. The interaction with band 4.1 and p55 is mediated by the N terminal 30 kD domain of band 4.1 binding to a 16 amino acid segment (residues 82-98: residues 61-77 of glycophorin D) within the cytoplasmic domain of glycophorin C and to a positively charged 39 amino acid motif in p55. The majority of

protein 4.1 Protein 4.1, also known as Beatty's Protein, is a protein associated with the cytoskeleton that in humans is encoded by the ''EPB41'' gene. Protein 4.1 is a major structural element of the erythrocyte membrane skeleton. It plays a key role in reg ...

is bound to glycophorin C. The magnitude of the strength of the interaction between glycophorin C and band 4.1 has been estimated to be 6.9 microNewtons per meter, a figure typical of protein–protein interactions. Glycophorin C normally shows oscillatory movement in the erythrocyte membrane. This is reduced in

Southeast Asian ovalocytosis Southeast Asian ovalocytosis is a blood disorder that is similar to, but distinct from hereditary elliptocytosis. It is common in some communities in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, as it confers some resistance to cerebral Falciparum Malaria. Pat ...

a disease of erythrocytes due to a mutation in band 3.

Transfusion medicine

These glycophorins are associated with eleven antigens of interest to transfusion medicine: the Gerbich (Ge2, Ge3, Ge4), the Yussef (Yus), the Webb (Wb or Ge5), the Duch (Dh(a) or Ge8), the Leach, the Lewis II (Ls(a) or Ge6), the Ahonen (An(a) or Ge7) and GEPL (Ge10*), GEAT (Ge11*) and GETI (Ge12*). Six are of high prevalence (Ge2, Ge3, Ge4, Ge10*, Ge11*, Ge12*) and five of low prevalence (Wb, Ls(a), An(a), Dh(a) and Ge9).

Gerbich antigen

Glycophorin C and D encode the Gerbich (Ge)

s. There are four

allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...

s, Ge-1 to Ge-4. Three types of Ge antigen negativity are known: Ge-1,-2,-3 (Leach phenotype), Ge-2,-3 and Ge-2,+3. A 3.4 kilobase pair deletion within the gene, which probably arose because of unequal crossing over between the two repeated domains, is responsible for the formation of the Ge-2,-3

genotype The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...

. The breakpoints of the deletion are located within

intron An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is not expressed or operative in the final RNA product. The word ''intron'' is derived from the term ''intragenic region'', i.e. a region inside a gene."The notion of the cistron .e., gene. ...

s 2 and 3 and results in the deletion of

3. This mutant gene is transcribed as a

with a continuous

open reading frame In molecular biology, open reading frames (ORFs) are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible readin ...

extending over 300

nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules wi ...

s and is translated into the

found on Ge-2,-3 red cells. A second 3.4 kilobase pair deletion within the glycophorin C gene eliminates only exon 2 by a similar mechanism and generates the mutant

encoding for the abnormal glycoprotein found on Ge-2,+3 erythrocytes. The Ge2 epitope is antigenic only on glycophorin D and is a cryptic antigen in glycophorin C. It is located within exon 2 and is sensitive to

trypsin Trypsin is an enzyme in the first section of the small intestine that starts the digestion of protein molecules by cutting these long chains of amino acids into smaller pieces. It is a serine protease from the PA clan superfamily, found in the dig ...

and

papain Papain, also known as papaya proteinase I, is a cysteine protease () enzyme present in papaya (''Carica papaya'') and mountain papaya (''Vasconcellea cundinamarcensis''). It is the namesake member of the papain-like protease family. It has wide ...

but resistant to

chymotrypsin Chymotrypsin (, chymotrypsins A and B, alpha-chymar ophth, avazyme, chymar, chymotest, enzeon, quimar, quimotrase, alpha-chymar, alpha-chymotrypsin A, alpha-chymotrypsin) is a digestive enzyme component of pancreatic juice acting in the duodenu ...

and

pronase Pronase is a commercially available mixture of proteases isolated from the extracellular fluid of ''Streptomyces griseus''. Activity extends to both denatured and native proteins leading to complete or nearly complete digestion into individual amino ...

. The Ge3 epitope is encoded by exon 3. It is sensitive to

but resistant to

and

. It is thought to lie in the between amino acids 42-50 in glycophorin C (residues 21-49 in glycophorin D). Ge4 is located within the first 21 amino acids of glycophorin C. It is sensitive to trypsin, papain, pronase and

neuraminidase Exo-α-sialidase (EC 3.2.1.18, sialidase, neuraminidase; systematic name acetylneuraminyl hydrolase) is a glycoside hydrolase that cleaves the glycosidic linkages of neuraminic acids: : Hydrolysis of α-(2→3)-, α-(2→6)-, α-(2→8)- glycos ...

Leach antigen

The relatively rare Leach phenotype is due either to a deletion in exons 3 and 4 or to a

frameshift mutation A frameshift mutation (also called a framing error or a reading frame shift) is a genetic mutation caused by indels ( insertions or deletions) of a number of nucleotides in a DNA sequence that is not divisible by three. Due to the triplet nature ...

causing a premature stop codon in the glycophorin C gene, and persons with this phenotype are less susceptible (~60% of the control rate) to invasion by ''

''. Such individuals have a subtype of a condition called

hereditary elliptocytosis Hereditary elliptocytosis, also known as ovalocytosis, is an inherited blood disorder in which an abnormally large number of the person's red blood cells are elliptical rather than the typical biconcave disc shape. Such morphologically distinctive ...

. The abnormally shaped cells are known as elliptocytes or cameloid cells. The basis for this phenotype was first reported by Telen ''et al.'' The phenotype is Ge:-2,-3,-4.

Yussef antigen

The Yussef (Yus)

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

is due to a 57 base pair deletion corresponding to exon 2. The antigen is known as GPC Yus. Glycophorin C mutations are rare in most of the Western world, but are more common in some places where malaria is endemic. In

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

a greater percentage of the population is Gerbich negative (46.5%) than in any other part of the world. The incidence of Gerbich-negative phenotype caused by an exon 3 deletion in the Wosera (

East Sepik Province East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...

) and Liksul (

Madang Province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. D ...

) populations of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

is 0.463 and 0.176 respectively.

Webb antigen

The rare Webb (Wb) antigen (~1/1000 donors), originally described in 1963 in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, is the result of an alteration in

glycosylation Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate (or ' glycan'), i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule (a glycosyl acceptor) in order to form a glycoconjugate. In biology (but not al ...

of glycophorin C: an A to G transition at nucleotide 23 results in an

asparagine Asparagine (symbol Asn or N) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated −NH form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the depro ...

residue instead of the normal

serine Serine (symbol Ser or S) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated − form under biological conditions), a carboxyl group (which is in the deprotonated − form un ...

residue with the resultant loss of glycosylation. The antigen is known as GPC Wb.

Duch antigen

The rare Duch (Dh) antigen was discovered in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

(1968) and is also found on glycophorin C. It is due to a C to T transition at

40 resulting in the replacement of

leucine Leucine (symbol Leu or L) is an essential amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Leucine is an α-amino acid, meaning it contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated −NH3+ form under biological conditions), an α- ca ...

phenylalanine Phenylalanine (symbol Phe or F) is an essential α-amino acid with the formula . It can be viewed as a benzyl group substituted for the methyl group of alanine, or a phenyl group in place of a terminal hydrogen of alanine. This essential amino a ...

. This antigen is sensitive to trypsin but resistant to chymotrypsin and Endo F.

Lewis antigen

The Lewis II (Ls(a); Ge-6) antigen has insert of 84 nucleotides into the ancestral GPC gene: the insert corresponds to the entire sequence of exon 3. Two subtypes of this antigen are known: beta Ls(a) which carries the Ge3 epitope and gamma Ls(a) which carries both the Ge2 and Ge3 epitopes. This antigen is also known as the Rs(a) antigen.

Ahonen antigen

The Ahonen (Ana) antigen was first reported in 1972. The antigen is found on glycophorin D. This antigen was discovered in a Finnish man on May 5, 1968, during post operative blood cross matching for an aortic aneurism repair. In Finland the incidence of this antigen was found to be 6/10,000 donors. In Sweden the incidence was 2/3266 donors. The molecular basis for the origin of this antigen lies within exon 2 where a G->T substitution in codon 67 (base position 199) converts an

alanine Alanine (symbol Ala or A), or α-alanine, is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an amine group and a carboxylic acid group, both attached to the central carbon atom which also carries a methyl group side c ...

to a

residue. While this epitope exists within glycophorin C there it is a cryptantigen. It is only antigenic in glycophorin D because of the truncated N terminus.

Others

A duplicated exon 2 has erythrocytes also been reported in Japanese blood donors (~2/10,000). This mutation has not been associated with a new antigen.

Antibodies

Antibodies to the Gerbich antigens have been associated with transfusion reactions and mild hemolytic disease of the newborn. In other studies naturally occurring anti-Ge antibodies have been found and appear to be of no clinical significance. Immunological tolerance towards Ge antigen has been suggested.

Other areas

High expression of glycophorin C has been associated with a poor prognosis for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in the Chinese. Glycophorin C is the receptor for the protein erythrocyte binding antigen 140 (EBA140) of ''

''. This interaction mediates a principal invasion pathway into the erythrocytes. The partial resistance of erythrocytes lacking this protein to invasion by ''P. falciparum'' was first noted in 1982. The lack of Gerbich antigens in the population of Papua New Guinea was noted in 1989. Influenza A and B bind to glycophorin C.

References

External links

Erythrocyte membrane cartoon
* {{transfusion medicine Clusters of differentiation Glycoproteins Transmembrane receptors Blood antigen systems Transfusion medicine