SPLASH (PLA2IID), a novel member of phospholipase A2 family, is associated with lymphotoxin deficiency

Abstract

Lymphotoxin (LT) deficient mice have profound defects in the splenic microarchitecture associated with defective expression on certain gene products, including chemokines. By using subtraction cloning of splenic cDNA from wild-type and LTα or TNF/LTα double deficient mice we isolated a novel murine gene encoding a secretory type phospholipase A₂, called SPLASH. The two major alternative transcripts of SPLASH gene are predominantly expressed in lymphoid tissues, such as spleen and lymph nodes. SPLASH maps to the distal part of chromosome 4, to which several cancer-related loci have been also mapped.