title: Unique structure of murine interleukin-2 as deduced from cloned cDNAs.
abstract: Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a lymphokine originally described as a humoral factor required for the continued proliferation of activated T-cell clones. It also seems to be involved in the mitogenic response of thymocytes, in augmenting natural killer cell activity, in the generation of cytotoxic T cells and in the induction of other lymphokines such as gamma-interferon and a B-cell growth factor (BCGF-1). More recently, there has been evidence for the involvement of IL-2 per se in the stimulation of B-cell growth (ref. 10 and T. Kishimoto and J. Vilcek, personal communications). We have reported previously the cloning and expression of a human IL-2 complementary DNA. The cDNA encodes biologically active IL-2 which would consist of 153 amino acids, including a signal sequence. Because so much of the work on IL-2 has been done in the human and mouse, we sought to obtain cDNA encoding murine IL-2, and we now report the cloning, expression and sequence analysis of murine IL-2 cDNAs. The longest cDNA insert encodes a polypeptide of 169 amino acids, containing unique repeats of a CAG sequence which would encode 12 consecutive glutamine residues within the active IL-2 molecule.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kashima
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nishi-Takaoka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taki
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hamuro
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D011061:Poly A / Q000032:analysis; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011061:Poly A; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes