Howard A D, Chartrain N, Ding G F, Kostura M J, Limjuco G, Schmidt J A, Tocci M J
Department of Biochemical and Molecular Pathology, Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ 07065.
Agents Actions Suppl. 1991;35:77-83.
Interleukin-1 beta must be processed from its precursor form of 31.5 kDa to its mature form of 17 kDa in order to elaborate its wide array of bioactivities. The recent identification of a monocyte-specific endoprotease, termed interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE), capable of generating authentic, bioactive 17 kDa IL-1 beta suggests that this protease may serve a specific role in the processing and subsequent secretion of IL-1 beta. To test this hypothesis, we describe initial attempts to establish a monocytic cell-based system to test if mutant preIL-1 beta molecules which are poor substrates for ICE in vitro will be processed and secreted by monocytic cells.
白细胞介素-1β必须从其31.5 kDa的前体形式加工成17 kDa的成熟形式，才能发挥其广泛的生物活性。最近鉴定出一种单核细胞特异性内蛋白酶，称为白细胞介素-1β转换酶（ICE），它能够产生真实的、具有生物活性的17 kDa白细胞介素-1β，这表明这种蛋白酶可能在白细胞介素-1β的加工和后续分泌中起特定作用。为了验证这一假设，我们描述了最初建立基于单核细胞的系统的尝试，以测试在体外作为ICE不良底物的突变型前白细胞介素-1β分子是否会被单核细胞加工和分泌。
