The duffy protein: A malarial and chemokine receptor

A major advance towards understanding the Duffy blood group system has been achieved with the cloning of FY, a single-copy gene located in the 1q22→q23 region of chromosome 1. The product of FY is an acidic glycoprotein (gp-Fy), which spans the plasma membrane seven times and has an exocellular N-terminal domain and an endocellular C-terminal domain. The system consists of four alleles, five phenotypes, and five antigens. FYA, FYB, FYB ES, and FYB WK are the alleles; Fy(a + b −), Fy(a − b +), Fy(a + b +), Fy(a − b + wK), and Fy(a − b −), are the phenotypes, and Fy a, Fy b, Fy3, Fy5, and Fy6 are the antigens. Fy(a − b −), or Duffy-negative individuals, lack the Duffy protein on erythrocytes and are predominantly African and American blacks. They have the FYB ES allele with a mutation in the promoter region, which abolishes the expression of the protein in erythrocytes only. In the few cases of non-black Fy(a − b −) individuals, a nonsense mutation prevents the synthesis of gp-Fy. In Fy(a − b + wK) erythrocytes, the Fy b antigen is weakly expressed due to a reduced amount of the protein. The Fy5 antigen includes the Rh protein, and the Fy6 antigen is defined by a murine monoclonal antibody. Gp-Fy is produced in several cell types, including endothelial cells of capillary and postcapillary venules, epithelial cells of kidney collecting ducts, and lung alveoli, as well as Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The Duffy protein plays a role in inflammation and in malaria infection. The protein is a member of the superfamily of chemokine receptors and is the receptor to which certain malarial parasites bind to invade red blood cells. The parasite-specific binding site, the binding site of chemokines, and the major antigenic domains are located in overlapping regions at the exocellular N terminus of the Duffy protein.