Immortalized Human Conjuctival Epithelial Cells-SV40

Immortalized Human Conjunctival Epithelial Cells Produce Functional Complement C3 and C4 Proteins

The complement system is crucial for ocular surface immunity, however it is uncertain whether conjunctival epithelial cells generate complement proteins. Ziemanski et al. investigated whether immortalized human conjunctival epithelial cells (HCjE) generate the complement proteins C3 and C4.

To assess C3 and C4 secretion by HCjE, supernatants from undifferentiated and differentiated cells were examined. C3 was identified in both circumstances but not in media controls, with differentiated HCjE secreting 9.77-fold more than undifferentiated cells (556.55 ± 91.75 vs. 56.95 ± 12.09 ng/ml, p < 0.001) (Fig. 1A). C4 levels were significantly reduced in all samples, with a peak in differentiated HCjE supernatants (0.599 ± 0.476 ng/ml) (Fig. 1B). The cell lysate analysis corroborated these findings. Differentiated HCjE had 3.25 times more cellular C3 than undifferentiated cells (0.585 ± 0.183 vs. 0.180 ± 0.102 ng/μg protein, p < 0.001) (Fig. 2A). In contrast, cellular C4 was 3.95-fold lower in differentiated vs undifferentiated lysates (0.00202 ± 0.00016 vs. 0.00797 ± 0.00487 ng/μg protein, p < 0.001) (Fig. 2B).