Internalisation of CD46, Membrane Cofactor Protein, As Determinee By Light, Cofocal, and Electron Microscopy

Abstract

Abstract Human CD46 (membrane cofactor protein) is expressed on all nucleated human cells and is a cellsurface regulator of activated complement as well as a receptor for both the measles and herpes 6 viruses. CD46 is also expressed in particularly high levels on some tumor cell lines. Complement leads to the recognition of foreign material, targeting it for removal and immune cytolysis. The primary role of CD46 is to bind to one of the complement components, C3b, thereby protecting host cells from autologous complement attack. in addition to its role as a complement regulatory factor, CD46 acts as a measles virus (MV) receptor. Despite the development and use of an effective ..