Novel human leukocyte interferon subtype and structural comparison of alpha interferon genes

In the cDNA library of virus-induced human leukocytes a novel subtype of IFN-alpha gene has been identified and sequenced, named IFN-alpha-N. A comparison of nucleotide sequences within the genes coding for different subtypes of human leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) has revealed the natural hybrid structure of individual alpha-IFNs-H,B,F, and N. Certain regions of the genes for IFN-alpha-H,B,F,N show a homology with one of the two structurally distinct groups of leukocyte interferons--either IFN-alpha-A,D or IFN-alpha-C,C1 utilized as reference standards.