surfactant protein B
Last updated 18 Aug 2020
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The SFTPB gene provides instructions for making a protein called surfactant protein-B (SP-B). This protein is one of four proteins (each produced from a different gene) in surfactant, a mixture of certain fats (called phospholipids) and proteins that lines the lung tissue and makes breathing easy. Without normal surfactant, the tissue surrounding the air sacs in the lungs (the alveoli) sticks together after exhalation (because of a force called surface tension), causing the alveoli to collapse. As a result, filling the lungs with air on each breath becomes very difficult, and the delivery of oxygen to the body is impaired. Surfactant lowers surface tension, easing breathing and avoiding lung collapse. The SP-B protein helps spread the surfactant across the surface of the lung tissue, aiding in the surface tension-lowering property of surfactant.
Normal function
The SFTPB gene provides instructions for making a protein called surfactant protein-B (SP-B). This protein is one of four proteins (each produced from a different gene) in surfactant, a mixture of certain fats (called phospholipids) and proteins that lines the lung tissue and makes breathing easy. Without normal surfactant, the tissue surrounding the air sacs in the lungs (the alveoli) sticks together after exhalation (because of a force called surface tension), causing the alveoli to collapse. As a result, filling the lungs with air on each breath becomes very difficult, and the delivery of oxygen to the body is impaired. Surfactant lowers surface tension, easing breathing and avoiding lung collapse. The SP-B protein helps spread the surfactant across the surface of the lung tissue, aiding in the surface tension-lowering property of surfactant.
The phospholipids and proteins that make up surfactant are packaged in cellular structures known as lamellar bodies, which are found in specialized lung cells. The surfactant proteins must go through several processing steps to mature and become functional; some of these steps occur in lamellar bodies. The SP-B protein plays a role in the formation of lamellar bodies and, thus, affects the processing of a surfactant protein called surfactant protein-C (SP-C).
Conditions referring to this gene or chromosome
Other names
18 kDa pulmonary-surfactant protein
6 kDa protein
PSP-B
PSPB_HUMAN
pulmonary surfactant-associated protein B
pulmonary surfactant-associated proteolipid SPL(Phe)
SFTP3
SMDP1
SP-B
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Further reading and references
- surfactant protein B; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.
- Nogee LM, Garnier G, Dietz HC, Singer L, Murphy AM, deMello DE, Colten HR. A mutation in the surfactant protein B gene responsible for fatal neonatal respiratory disease in multiple kindreds. J Clin Invest. 1994 Apr;93(4):1860-3. doi: 10.1172/JCI117173.
- Nogee LM, Wert SE, Proffit SA, Hull WM, Whitsett JA. Allelic heterogeneity in hereditary surfactant protein B (SP-B) deficiency. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000 Mar;161(3 Pt 1):973-81. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.161.3.9903153.
- Weaver TE. Synthesis, processing and secretion of surfactant proteins B and C. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998 Nov 19;1408(2-3):173-9. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4439(98)00066-0.
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