Kazuo Sugamura (Department of Microbiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan): "Prior to this study, we had established monoclonal antibodies specific for the b chain of the receptor for interleukin 2 (IL-2), also known as a T cell growth factor. A series of experiments with these monoclonal antibodies provided evidence that the functional IL-2 receptor includes a third novel component, the g chain, in addition to the a and a chains. In this study, a complete cDNA clone of the g chain gene was isolated and characterized as a new member of the cytokine receptor family. The g chain, like the a chain, was shown to be an indispensable subunit for the functional IL-2 receptor. Interestingly, the g chain gene was mapped to a locus on the X chromosome (Xq13) where the putative gene for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) is located. Furthermore, mutations of the g chain gene ...
Biochemistry
T. Takeshita, H. Asao, K. Ohtani, N. Ishii, S. Kumaki, N. Tanaka, H. Munakata, M. Nakamura, K. Sugamura, "Cloning of the g chain of the human IL-2 receptor," Science, 257:379- 82, 1992. Kazuo Sugamura (Department of Microbiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan): "Prior to this study, we had established monoclonal antibodies specific for the b chain of the receptor for interleukin 2 (IL-2), also known as a T cel
