Effect of Hamster Pregnancy on Female Protein, a Homolog of Serum Amyloid P Component

Pentraxins such as human serum amyloid P component (SAP) and C reactive protein (CRP) represent an ancient family of proteins that are ubiquitous in nature and have evolved with little change in structure or regulation. The pentraxin in the Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is unique because it is preferentially expressed in the female at high constitutive levels and accordingly called female protein (FP) or FP(SAP) due to its close homology with human SAP. The high levels of FP in female serum (100-fold greater than male serum) suggested its role in hamster pregnancy, one of the shortest of any eutherian mammal. We determined the serum FP concentration in pregnant Syrian hamsters and found a marked decrease (>80%) at term with the nadir at parturition with subsequent increase. A similar downregulation of FP was found in the normal female Syrian hamster after injury (acute phase response), so in both cases the assumed beneficial effects were achieved with less, rather than more pentraxin, a paradoxical pentraxin response. The fall in serum FP concentration could represent a response to protect the fetus from the high and potentially toxic level of FP normally found in the female, that is harmful because of its association with amyloidosis. An FP that is 97.5% identical to Syrian hamster FP is found in the Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti), although serum levels in females are much lower, and amyloid is very rare. During pregnancy/parturition of Turkish hamsters, the serum level of FP remained remarkably constant. In a more distantly related hamster, the Armenian hamster (Cricetulus migratorius), serum FP actually increased during pregnancy and at parturition in a manner similar to that found in the Armenian hamster during an acute phase response. The heterogeneity of FP kinetics during pregnancy in these three species of hamster indicates pleomorphic gene structure for regulation of their similar FPs, and suggests that this protein may have a different function in the pregnancy of each species.