A gene encoding a polypeptide having pre-B cell growth-supporting ability

摘要

This invention relates to a gene encoding a polypeptide having pre-B cell growth-supporting ability, and an adhesion molecule of the polypeptide consisting of 318 amino acid residues having pre-B cell growth-supporting ability, or a part of it. Said adhesion molecule is produced by preparing transformants such as microorganism or cells by transforming a host cell with a vector containing said gene and culturing said transformants. The above gene encodes the novel adhesion molecule enhancing the pre-B cell growth-supporting ability on the bone marrow cell and the synovial cell derived from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and multiple myeloma (MM). The homogeneous and purified adhesion molecule having pre-B cell growth-supporting ability can be produced in large quantities, and therefore it is possible to identify multiple myeloma (MM) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and also prepare reagents for the clinical diagnosis thereof. <IMAGE>