Mycobacterium tuberculosis employs Cpn60.2 as an adhesin that binds CD43 on the macrophage surface

CD43 is a large sialylated glycoprotein found on the surface of haematopoietic cells and has been previously shown to be necessary for efficient macrophage binding and immunological responsiveness to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Using capsular material from M. tuberculosis and recombinant CD43‐Fc, we have employed affinity chromatography to show that Cpn60.2 (Hsp65, GroEL), and to a lesser extent DnaK (Hsp70), bind to CD43. Competitive inhibition using recombinant protein and polyclonal F(ab′)₂ antibody‐mediated epitope masking studies were used to evaluate M. tuberculosis binding to CD43^+/+ versus CD43^?/? macrophages. Results showed that Cpn60.2, but not DnaK, acts as a CD43‐dependent mycobacterial adhesin for macrophage binding. Assessment of the specific binding between Cpn60.2 and CD43 showed it to be saturable, with a comparatively weak affinity in the low micromolar range. We have also shown that the ability of Cpn60.2 to competitively inhibit M. tuberculosis binding to macrophages is shared by the Escherichia coli homologue, GroEL, but not by the mouse and human Hsp60 homologues. These findings add to a growing field of research that implicates molecular chaperones as having extracellular functions, including bacterial adherence to host cells. Thus, CD43 may act as a Pattern Recognition Receptor (PRR) for bacterial homologues of the 60 kDa molecular chaperone.