Cloning of two rabbit GRO homologues and their expression in alveolar macrophages

We cloned two rabbit GRO homologue cDNAs from a lipopolysaccharide-stimulated rabbit alveolar macrophage (AM) cDNA library. One cDNA contains the complete coding sequence for a new mature GRO protein, RabGRO, which shares 68, 78 and 70% amino-acid identity with human GRO-alpha, -beta and -gamma, respectively. The other cDNA contains previously unreported sequence encoding a second GRO protein, rabbit permeability factor 2. The two Rab GRO proteins share 93% identity. Northern analysis shows that Rab AM GRO expression is rapidly induced by lipopolysaccharide. These findings suggest that GRO chemokines may be important in the pulmonary inflammation that occurs with septic lung injury.