MAFA

For other uses, see MAFA (disambiguation).

MAFA (Mast cell function-associated antigen) is a type II membranal glycoprotein, first identified on the surface of rat mucosal-type mast cells of the RBL-2H3 line. More recently, human and mouse homologues of MAFA have been discovered yet also (or only) expressed by NK and T-cells.[1]

The intracellular domain of MAFA contains a single immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM), which classifies MAFA as a member of an inhibitory receptor superfamily. The inhibitory capacity of MAFA is best defined in mast cells, where MAFA keeps in check the antigen-induced (i.e. Fc epsilon RI-induced) secretion of inflammatory mediators.

References

  1. ↑ Abramson; Jakub Abramson, Rong Xu and Israel Pecht; Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel (Received 24 December 2001; accepted 18 January 2002. Available online 21 June 2002). "An unusual inhibitory receptor—the mast cell function-associated antigen (MAFA)". Retrieved 2008-05-10. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, June 26, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.