Regulation of interleukin 2 gene expression: discrepancy between enhancer activity and endogenous gene expression

A 630-bp fragment of the human interleukin 2 (IL 2) promoter (+51 to -584) permitted expression of a reporter gene transfected into a mouse T cell lymphoma line (EL4) upon induction with phorbol ester. In contrast, when a human T cell lymphoma (Jurkat) was transfected with the same plasmid and subsequently induced with phorbol ester together with phytohemagglutinin, a very low expression of the transfected gene was observed. The endogenous IL 2 gene was equally well expressed in both cell lines upon induction. Thus, the expression of the endogenous and the transfected gene did not correlate in Jurkat cells. An SV 40 enhancer element cloned 5' of the IL 2 promoter did not result in constitutive expression after transfection to either cell line, rather the IL 2 promoter retained the need for induction. The addition of an enhancer element increased the induced expression of the transfected gene in Jurkat cells into proximity of that observed in induced EL4 cells, indicating that additional sequence elements not contained in the 630-bp fragment are needed for proper expression of the IL 2 gene in Jurkat cells.