mRNA expression of the prolactin receptor isoforms in autoimmunity

MORENO SOSA MARÍA TAMARA; SÁNCHEZ MARÍA BELÉN; YÚDICA SEDANO FLORENCIA; GAI REJAN C; CARBONE FRANCISCO; TARET FEDERICO; JAHN GRACIELA ALMA; MACKERN-OBERTI JUAN PABLO

Simposio; 1st Freiburg,Germany - Mendoza, Argentina Symposium on Translational Medicine; 2018

Autoimmune diseases are heterogeneous and difficult to treat pathologies. Immune cells can be modulated by several endocrine mediators such as adrenaline, cortisol, and prolactin. In the case of prolactin, it is known that liver cells express several isoforms including a long isoform (PRL-RL) that signals via STAT5 and JAK molecules and a short isoform (PRL-RS) that signals only via JAK molecule. Although it is known that immune cells express the PRL-RL, it is not known whether immune cells express short isoforms. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether murine and human immune cells (from healthy and lupus) express the prolactin receptor short and long isoforms. To this end, C57BL/6 mice were euthanized, the spleen was harvested. Blood samples from healthy donors were harvested and red blood cells were lysed. RNA from murine spleen and human blood leukocytes were obtained following Trizol reagent protocol instructions. Then cDNAs were synthesized with the subsequently PCR amplification. PCR products were visualized byagarose gel electrophoresis. We found that both murine and human leukocytes express mRNA PRL-RL. In addition, we also found that both murine and human leukocytes express the mRNA PRL-RS. Furthermore, spleen cells and PBMCs from lupus mice and patients displayed higher expression of mRNA PRL-RL form suggesting lupus cells are more sensible to prolactin. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that immune cells express both prolactin receptor isoforms and lupus immune cells displayed a differential expression. To our knowledge, this is the first report that showed human leukocytes express PRL-RS.