Related Experiment Videos
Growth factors and receptors of lymphocytes
1Department of Medical Chemistry, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
To understand molecular mechanisms of clonal expansion of lymphocytes we have isolated cDNA clones for two lymphokines, interleukins (IL) 4 and 5 that induce proliferation and maturation of B-lymphocytes. Structures of IL-4 and IL-5 revealed a remote homology with other lymphokines such as IL-3 and gamma-interferon. IL-4 and IL-5 were shown to affect not only B-lymphocytes but also T-lymphocytes and several other cells derived from bone marrow stem cells. We have also studied the structure and function of the IL-2 receptor: our focus was the molecular basis for the high and low affinity states of the receptor encoded by the identical cDNA. We propose the affinity conversion model that the high-affinity state of the IL-2 receptor is a ternary complex of IL-2, the IL-2 receptor, and a postulated "converter protein", which is fewer in number than the receptors.
To understand molecular mechanisms of clonal expansion of lymphocytes we have isolated cDNA clones for two lymphokines, interleukins (IL) 4 and 5 that induce proliferation and maturation of B-lymphocytes. Structures of IL-4 and IL-5 revealed a remote homology with other lymphokines such as IL-3 and gamma-interferon. IL-4 and IL-5 were shown to affect not only B-lymphocytes but also T-lymphocytes and several other cells derived from bone marrow stem cells. We have also studied the structure and function of the IL-2 receptor: our focus was the molecular basis for the high and low affinity states of the receptor encoded by the identical cDNA. We propose the affinity conversion model that the high-affinity state of the IL-2 receptor is a ternary complex of IL-2, the IL-2 receptor, and a postulated "converter protein", which is fewer in number than the receptors.