Novel Fc gamma receptor I family gene products in human mononuclear cells

Abstract

Unlike the human Fc gamma RII and Fc gamma RIII families, which exhibit considerable diversity at both the nucleic acid and protein levels, the human Fc gamma RI family has only a single recognized product expressed as a 70-kD cell surface receptor with high affinity for monomeric IgG (hFc gamma RIa1). Using both polymerase chain reaction-based amplification and Northern hybridization, we document multiple interferon-gamma-inducible hFc gamma RI RNA transcripts in human mononuclear cells and neutrophils. The sequences of two of these Fc gamma RI related transcripts indicate that they are alternatively spliced products of a second Fc gamma RI family gene, termed Fc gamma RIB. The cDNA derived from the larger of these transcripts, termed hFc gamma RIb1, encodes a surface molecule that is not recognized by Fc gamma RI specific monoclonal antibodies when transfected into COS-7 cells. Unlike the interferon-gamma-inducible hFc gamma RIA gene product, hFc gamma RIb1 does not bind monomeric IgG with high affinity. However, both hFc gamma RIa1 and hFc gamma RIb1 do bind aggregated human IgG. Previously unrecognized diversity within the hFc gamma RI family includes an interferon-gamma-inducible, putative low affinity Fc gamma receptor that may play an important role in the mechanism by which Fc gamma receptors participate in the humoral immune response.