Publications

Human interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptor cDNA derived from HUT 102B2 cells was stably expressed in murine L cells. These L cell transfectants (a) displayed surface receptors of the aberrant size of the IL-2 receptors on HUT 102B2 cells, (b) did not respond to exogenous IL-2 with augmented proliferation, and (c) expressed low affinity but not high affinity receptors for IL-2.

The human interleukin-2 receptor is an inducible growth factor receptor present on the surface of activated T lymphocytes. The receptor is required for a normal T-cell immune response. High-resolution fluorescence-activated chromosome sorting and DNA spot-blot analysis with complementary DNA's for the interleukin-2 receptor indicated that the receptor gene was located on chromosome 9, 10, 11, or 12. In situ hybridization studies showed that the interleukin-2 receptor gene is on the short arm of chromosome 10, p14----15.

Infection of human T cells by human T-lymphotropic virus, type I (HTLV-I), a retrovirus, is uniformly associated with the constitutive expression of large numbers of cellular receptors for interleukin-2 (IL-2). Comparison with normal T cells shows that neither IL-2 receptor gene organization nor IL-2 receptor messenger RNA processing are altered in the leukemic cells. However, mitogenic stimuli activate IL-2 receptor gene expression in normal T cells, whereas these stimuli paradoxically inhibit IL-2 receptor gene transcription in HTLV-I-infected leukemic T cells.