Murine spleen cells and human blood leukocytes express mRNA of the prolactin receptor short isoform 3 and 1 b respectively

AGUERO, FACUNDO; YÚDICA SEDANO FLORENCIA; QUILES ROMINA; MORENO SOSA TAMARA; SÁNCHEZ MARÍA BELÉN; JAHN GRACIELA ALMA; MACKERN OBERTI JUAN PABLO

Congreso; XXXV Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2017

It is known that stress responses mediated by adrenalin, cortisol and prolactin may influence the immune system and can be associated with relapses of autoimmune diseases. In the case of prolactin, there are several prolactin receptor (PRL-R) isoforms including a long isoform (PRL-RL) that signals via STAT5 and JAK, and a short isoform (PRL-RS) that signals only via JAK. Although it is known that immune cells express the PRL-RL, whether immune cells express PRL-RS is still unknown. The aim of this work was to evaluate whether murine and human immune cells express PRL-RS. To this end, female C57BL/6 mice were euthanized and the spleens were harvested. Blood samples from healthy human donors were taken and red blood cells were lysed. RNA from murine spleen and human blood leukocytes was isolated using Trizol. The RNAs were retrotranscribed to cDNA and used to detect PRL-R isoforms by PCR amplification using specific primers for human and murine isoforms and human actin and murine GAPDH as respective housekeeping genes. PCR products were visualized by agarose gel electrophoresis stained with SYBRGold. We found that murine as well as human leukocytes express PRL-RL and also PRL-RS. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that immune cells express both prolactin receptor isoforms. To our knowledge this is the first report showing that human leukocytes express PRL-RS. Although much work remains to be done, our data support the notion that immune cells might respond to prolactin through a balance between PRL-RL and PRL-RS expression and signaling.