Purification and partial sequence analysis of murine B cell growth factor II (interleukin 5)

Murine B cell growth factor II (BCGF-II/interleukin 5) was purified from the conditioned media of the helper T cell line D10 . G4 . 1. The purification scheme consisted of sequential batch adsorption onto trimethylsilyl-controlled pore glass beads, high pressure ion exchange chromatography, and reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography. The purified BCGF-II had a relative molecular weight of 45,000 when analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions. Identical analysis of BCGF-II under reducing conditions yielded a m.w. of 22,500, suggesting that native BCGF-II exists as a homodimer. The NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified lymphokine was determined by automated Edman degradation. A single amino acid sequence of 24 residues was obtained that, upon comparison, was contained within the cDNA pSP6K-mTRF23 recently described as encoding murine BCGF-II/T cell-replacing factor. The NH2-terminal methionine in mature BCGF-II is found at position 21 of the amino acid sequence predicted from the cDNA pSP6K-mTRF23. This finding supports the contention of Kinashi et al. (Kinashi, T., N. Harada, E. Severinson, T. Tanabe, P. Sideras, M. Konishi, C. Azuma, A. Tominaga, S. Bergstedt-Lindqvist, M. Takahashi, F. Matsuda, Y. Yaoita, K. Takatsu, and T. Honjo. 1986. Nature 324:70) that amino acids 1-20 serve as the signal sequence for the BCGF-II gene. The ability of BCGF-II to stimulate the proliferation of the B cell lymphoma BCL1 was used to assess the potency of the lymphokine. BCGF-II at 13.5 pM induced 50% of the maximal proliferative response in the BCL1 cells; concentrations as low as 2 pM were still effective in stimulating the growth of the cells. Assuming that the amount of BCGF-II necessary to mount a 50% response in the BCL1 assay is defined as one unit of activity, then the purified BCGF-II has a specific activity of 16.5 U/ng of protein.