Trypsin-like serine proteases are involved in diverse biological processes such as complement activation, tissue remodeling, cellular migration, tumor invasion, and metastasis. Here we report a novel human C I r-like serine protease analog, CLSPa, derived from dendritic cells (DC). The 487-residue CLSPa protein contains a CUB domain and a serine protease domain, possessing characteristic catalytic triad but lacking typical activation/cleavage sequence. It shares great homology with complement Clr/Cls and mannose-associated serine proteases. CLSPa mRNA is widely expressed, especially abundant in placenta, liver, kidney, pancreas, and myeloid cells, which are a major resources of serine proteases. Upon stimulation by agonistic anti-CD40 Ab, TNF-alpha, or LPS, CLSPa mRNA expression was significantly up-regulated in monocytic cells and monocyte-derived immature DC. When overexpressed in 293T cells, CLSPa protein,vas synthesized into the culture supernatants as a secretory protein, which had an inhibitory effect on complement-mediated cytotoxicity to antibody-sensitized erythrocytes. However, CLSPa itself possesses little protease activity, but it plays an inhibitory role in other active protease catalytic processes. The identification of human CLSPa as a novel Clr-like protein might facilitate future investigation of the regulatory mechanism of CLSPa in complement pathways during inflammation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.