77] Cloning of the human interferons

Abstract

The chapter presents isolation and identification of recombinants containing sequences for human leukocyte interferon. Sequences containing human fibroblast interferon are isolated by several groups that used different approaches. The recombinants are utilized to express the human interferons in Escherichia coli . The recombinants containing human leukocyte and fibroblast interferon sequences are used as hybridization probes to isolate the corresponding human genes. The isolation of a family of human leukocyte interferon genes is consistent with the prior isolation of multiple species of human leukocyte interferon from normal leukocytes and leukocytes from patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia. The various human leukocyte interferons, both natural and recombinant, exhibit differences in their biological activities although the corresponding native and recombinant species show identical activities. The availability of large amounts of pure interferon for both basic and clinical research will stimulate the advancement of knowledge about interferon much further. The availability of the cDNA and genomic recombinants will lead to understanding how interferon synthesis is regulated by viruses and double-stranded RNA.