CD44 expression on murine tissues.

CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein found on lymphoid and epithelial cells. Its primary function on lymphocytes and macrophages is to mediate interaction with endothelium, while its function on epithelial cells is not known. The protein has many different forms, generated by alternative mRNA splicing and by post-translational modification, which may mediate different functions. During previous work on murine lung tumor cells, mAb 133-13A was isolated and shown to recognize a surface glycoprotein, P100, of 90-100 x 10(3) M(r). Amino acid sequence analysis of purified P100 indicates that it is CD44. Since few data exist to indicate which forms of CD44 are present in different normal tissues, mAb 133-13A was used to analyze CD44 expression in mouse tissue. Quantitative data on the distribution of CD44(P100) in mice show that spleen, thymus, liver, intestine, uterus and choroid of the eye are major sites of expression. In addition, epithelia of adrenals, esophagus and trachea are CD44(P100) positive. Previous work on human cell lines has implicated a high molecular mass (130-160 x 10(3) M(r)) form of the glycoprotein as the form expressed in epithelial cells and carcinomas. Isolation of CD44 proteins from lymphoid tissues in the mouse indicate that, as in human lymphoid tissue, the low molecular mass form (80-90 x 10(3) M(r)) is predominately expressed. These data show that both small (approximately 81 x 10(3) M(r)) and large forms of the glycoprotein are expressed in basal epithelia of esophagus and trachea and in salivary gland, while only the small form is expressed in epithelium of the adrenal cortex and in the murine lung and mammary carcinomas studied. While these data cannot distinguish between specific splice variants, they show that the large forms of CD44 are minor components in normal tissue and seem to be found only in basal epithelium. The CD44 of low M(r) found in epithelial tissues is probably associated with lymphoid cell types in the tissues.