| 摘要 |
Disclosed are isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising, or alternatively, consisting of, a polynucleotide encoding a cytokine and an apparent splice variant thereof that are structurally similar to TNF and related cytokines and have similar biological effects and activities. This cytokine is named Neutrokine-alpha and includes Neutrokine-alpha polypeptides having at least a portion of the amino acid sequence in Figures 1A and 1B (SEQ ID NO: 2) or amino acid sequence encoded by the cDNA clone (HNEDU15) deposited on October 22, 1996 assigned ATCC number 97768. The nucleotide sequence determined by sequencing the deposited Neutrokine-alpha clone, which is shown in Figures 1A and 1B (SEQ ID NO: 1), contains an open reading frame encoding a complete polypeptide of 285 amino acid residues including an N-terminal methionine, a predicted intracellular domain of about 46 amino acid residues, a predicted transmembrane domain of about 26 amino acids, a predicted extracellular domain of about 213 amino acids, and a deduced molecular weight for the complete protein of about 31 kDa. As for other type II transmembrane proteins, soluble forms of Neutrokine-alpha include all or a portion of the extracellular domain cleaved from the transmembrane domain and a polypeptide comprising the complete Neutrokine-alpha polypeptide lacking the transmembrane domain, i.e. the extracellular domain linked to the intracellular domain. |
