Shinkai Y, Takio K, Okumura K
Department of Immunology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Nature. 1988 Aug 11;334(6182):525-7. doi: 10.1038/334525a0.
Perforin is one of the cytolytic factors present in the cytoplasmic granules of mouse cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. We have determined the sequence of the N-terminal amino acids of perforin purified from a mouse natural killer cell line, and, by using oligonucleotide probes corresponding to the amino acid residues, we have identified a complementary DNA encoding perforin from the cDNA library of a mouse cytotoxic T lymphocyte clone. As predicted from the functional similarities between perforin and the ninth component of the serum cytolytic system, complement (C9) (refs 4-8), the deduced primary structure of perforin has homology with C9 at their respective functionally conserved regions. We find that perforin is only expressed in killer cell lines, and not in helper T lymphocytes or other tumour cells tested. Thus we have provided direct molecular evidence that a killer-cell-specific protein evolutionally linked to C9 is involved in cell-mediated cytolysis.
穿孔素是存在于小鼠细胞毒性T淋巴细胞和自然杀伤细胞胞质颗粒中的溶细胞因子之一。我们已经确定了从小鼠自然杀伤细胞系纯化的穿孔素N端氨基酸序列，并利用与这些氨基酸残基对应的寡核苷酸探针，从小鼠细胞毒性T淋巴细胞克隆的cDNA文库中鉴定出一个编码穿孔素的互补DNA。正如根据穿孔素与血清溶细胞系统第九成分补体（C9）（参考文献4 - 8）之间的功能相似性所预测的那样，穿孔素推导的一级结构在其各自的功能保守区域与C9具有同源性。我们发现穿孔素仅在杀伤细胞系中表达，而在所测试的辅助性T淋巴细胞或其他肿瘤细胞中不表达。因此，我们提供了直接的分子证据，表明一种与C9在进化上相关的杀伤细胞特异性蛋白参与细胞介导的细胞溶解作用。
