Effect of direct albumin binding to sphingosylphosphorylcholine in Jurkat T cells

Mijin Han1, Yu-Lee Kim, Santosh J Sacket

  • 1Laboratory of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy (BK21 Project) and Research Institute for Drug Development, Pusan National University, San 30, Jang-Jun-dong, Geum-Jung-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.

We investigated the effects of serum on lysophospholipid-induced cytotoxicity in Jurkat T cells. We found that sphingosylphosphorylcholine (SPC, also known as lysosphingomyelin) induced cytotoxicity and that albumin in serum could protect cells by binding directly to SPC. Furthermore, we also found that SPC induced ROS generation, increased [Ca(2+)](i), and decreased MMP. However, those effects were only observed at concentrations higher than 10 microM and were only induced in albumin-free media. Therefore, SPC may be trapped by albumin in plasma and unable to exert its effects under normal conditions, although at high concentrations, SPC could induce several responses such as ROS generation, increased [Ca(2+)](i), and decreased MMP in Jurkat T cells.

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