Informatics and the immune system: the expanding IL-1 and B7 protein families.
Remarkable advances in our knowledge of the genome sequence have led to the creation of databases that afford the opportunity to discover genes based on the presence of specific sequence motifs. The application of this strategy to the identification of proteins in families of immunological interest has had a visible impact on the sizes of the interleukin 1/18 and the CD28/B7 costimulatory molecule families, among many others. This accelerated pace of discovery presents a new challenge to match the rate of discovery with biological understanding of the functions of these extended protein families.
Grant
Ethan P
EP
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 35 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. egrant@mpi.com
Coyle
Anthony J
AJ
Gutierrez-Ramos
Jose-Carlos
JC
D000818:Animals; D018122:B7-1 Antigen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D019295:Computational Biology; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D017472:Receptors, Interleukin-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D018122:B7-1 Antigen; D007375:Interleukin-1; D017472:Receptors, Interleukin-1