Increased mRNA for CD63 Antigen in Atherosclerotic Lesions of Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic Rabbits

To identify a set of mRNAs that increases with the progression of atherosclerosis, differential hy-bridization screening of a cDNA library, constructed from total RNA in aortae of Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbits, was carried out. Here we report that one of the positive clones encodes a rabbit homologue of human CD63 antigen. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the cDNA revealed the primary structure of rabbit lysosomal membrane antigen CD63. Analysis of the mRNA by in situ hybridization revealed that a significant amount of the mRNA is accumulated in atherosclerotic lesions of WHHL rabbits. Northern blot analysis of total RNA prepared from aortae of WHHL and normal rabbits indicates that expression of the mRNA increased with age in WHHL rabbits, suggesting that expression of the mRNA is correlated with the progression of atherosclerosis.