Expression of membrane complement regulators, CD46, CD55 and CD59, in mesothelial cells of patients on peritoneal dialysis therapy.

We investigated the expression of membrane complement regulators (CRegs), CD46, CD55 and CD59 in human mesothelial cells, and correlated with clinical background and level of complement (C) activation products in peritoneal dialysis (PD) fluids (PDF) to clarify influence of the C activation system in PD patients. Expression of CRegs was assessed on primary cultures of mesothelial cells (HPMC) harvested from PD fluid of 31 PD patients. Because expression of CD55 but not CD46 and CD59 in mesothelial cells was significantly correlated to value of dialysate-to-plasma creatinine concentration ratio (D/P Cre) (p<0.005) as an indicator of peritoneal function, we focused on analysis of CD55 expression of HPMCs in comparison with levels of C activation products in the PDF of the PD patients, and their background factors. When comparing expression of the CRegs between systemic neutrophils and HPMC, no correlation was observed, supporting that change of CRegs' expression in HPMC was independently occurring in the peritoneum. Expression of CD55 protein in HPMC was closely correlated with expression at the mRNA level (p<0.0001) and was inversely correlated with levels of sC5b-9 (p<0.05), but not C3, C4, IL6 and CA125 in the PDF. Complications of diabetes, usage of icodextrin and residual renal function were not correlated with change of CD55 expression in HPMCs. Our data show that the process of PD therapy modifies expression of CD55 on peritoneal mesothelium and triggers local C activation. These findings support efforts to modify PD therapy to limit effects on activation and regulation of the C system.