NCC27, a homolog of intracellular Cl- channel p64, is expressed in brush border of renal proximal tubule

NCC27, a 27-kDa homolog of the intracellular chloride channel p64, was recently described as a chloride channel in nuclear membrane. We probed human Northern blots for NCC27 and found an similar to 1.7-kb message in all tissues examined, including kidney, the transcript being most abundant in heart and skeletal muscle. NCC27-specific antisera was raised to a COOH-terminal peptide derived from the NCC27 coding region. Using this antisera, we find NCC27 is expressed in an intracellular vesicular compartment in HeLa cells, PancI cells, and macrophages. In human and mouse kidney, NCC27 is expressed at low levels in most cells of the kidney. NCC27 is highly expressed in glomeruli, in periarterial smooth muscle, and in the apical membrane of a subset of cortical tubule cells. Double staining with nephron segment-specific lectins indicates that the NCC27-expressing cells are proximal tubule cells.