Mapping of the C3d Ligand Binding Site on Complement Receptor 2 (CR2/CD21) Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Chemical Shift Analysis

Complement receptor 2 (CR2, CD21) is a cell membrane protein, with 15 or 16 extracellular short consensus repeats (SCRs), that promotes B lymphocyte responses and bridges innate and acquired immunity. The most distally located SCRs (SCR1-2) mediate the interaction of CR2 with its four known ligands (C3d, Epstein-Barr virus gp350, interferon-alpha, and CD23). Inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against SCR1-2 block binding of all ligands. To develop ligand-specific inhibitors that would also assist in identifying residues unique to each receptor-ligand interaction, phage were selected from randomly generated libraries by panning with recombinant SCR1-2, followed by specific ligand-driven elution. Derived peptides were tested by competition ELISA. One peptide, C3dp1 (APQHLSSQYSRT) exhibited ligand-specific inhibition at midmicromolar IC50. C3d was titrated into N-15-labeled SCR1-2, which revealed chemical shift changes indicative of specific intermolecular interactions. With backbone assignments made, the chemical shift changes were mapped onto the crystal structure of SCR1-2. With regard to C3d, the binding surface includes regions of SCR1, SCR2, and the inter-SCR linker, specifically residues Arg(13), Tyr(16), Arg(28), Tyr(29), Ser(32), Thr(34), Lys(48), Asp(56), Lys(57), Tyr(68), Arg(83), Gly(84), Asn(101), Asn(105), and Ser(109). SCR1 and SCR2 demonstrated distinct binding modes. The CR2 binding surface incorporating SCR1 is inconsistent with a previous x-ray CR2-C3d co-crystal analysis but consistent with mutagenesis, x-ray neutron scattering, and inhibitory monoclonal antibody epitope mapping. Titration with C3dp1 yielded chemical shift changes (Arg(13), Tyr(16), Thr(34), Lys(48), Asp(56), Lys(57), Tyr(68), Arg(83), Gly(84), Asn(105), and Ser(109)) overlapping with C3d, indicating that C3dp1 interacts at the same CR2 site as C3d.