Analysis of CFTR mRNA and Protein in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells via Quantitative Real-Time PCR and Western Blot

The Cystic Fibrosis Conductance Transmembrane Regulator gene encodes for the CFTR ion channel, which is responsible for the transport of chloride and bicarbonate across the plasma membrane. Mutations in the gene result in impaired ion transport, subsequently leading to perturbed secretion in all exocrine glands and, therefore, the multi-organ disease cystic fibrosis (CF). In recent years, several studies have reported on CFTR expression in immune cells as demonstrated by immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and immunoblotting. However, these data are mainly restricted to single-cell populations and show significant variation depending on the methodology used. Here, we investigated CFTR transcription and protein expression using standardized protocols in a comprehensive panel of immune cells. Methods: We applied a high-resolution Western blot protocol using a combination of highly specific monoclonal CFTR antibodies that have been optimized for the detection of CFTR in epithelial cells and healthy primary immune cell subpopulations sorted by flow cytometry and used immortalized cell lines as controls. The specificity of CFTR protein detection was controlled by peptide competition and enzymatic Peptide-N-Glycosidase-F (PNGase) digest. CFTR transcripts were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR and normalized to the level of epithelial T84 cells as a reference. Results: CFTR mRNA expression could be shown for primary CD4+ T cells, NK cells, as well as differentiated THP-1 and Jurkat T cells. In contrast, we failed to detect CFTR transcripts for CD14+ monocytes and undifferentiated THP-1 cells, as well as for B cells and CD8+ T cells. Prominent immunoreactive bands were detectable by immunoblotting with the combination of four CFTR antibodies targeting different epitopes of the CFTR protein. However, in biosamples of non-epithelial origin, these CFTR-like protein bands could be unmasked as false positives through peptide competition or PNGase digest, meaning that the observed mRNA transcripts were not necessarily translated into CFTR proteins, which could be detected via immunoblotting. Our results confirm that mRNA expression in immune cells is many times lower than in that cells of epithelial origin. The immunoreactive signals in immune cells turned out to be false positives, and may be provoked by the presence of a high-affinity protein with a similar epitope. Non-specific binding (e.g., Fab-interaction with glycosyl branches) might also contribute to false positive signals. Our findings highlight the necessity of accurate controls, such as CFTR-negative cells, as well as peptide competition and glycolytic digest in order to identify genuine CFTR protein by immunoblotting. Our data suggest, furthermore, that CFTR protein expression data from techniques such as histology, for which the absence of a molecular weight or other independent control prevents the unmasking of false positive immunoreactive signals, must be interpreted carefully as well.