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Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of the gene for human tumour necrosis factor

Nature volume 313, pages 803–806 (1985)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 April 1985

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Abstract

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) was found originally in mouse serum after intravenous injection of bacterial endotoxin into mice primed with viable Mycobacterium bovis, strain Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)1. TNF-containing serum from mice is cytotoxic or cytostatic to a number of mouse and human transformed cell lines, but less or not toxic to normal cells in vitro. It causes necrosis of transplantable tumours in mice. TNF also occurs in serum of rat1, rabbit1,2 and guinea pig3. Rabbit TNF has been purified recently to give a single band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The purified TNF had a relative molecular mass (Mr) 40,000±5,000 measured by gel filtration, and 17,000 by SDS-PAGE. Its isoelectric point is 5.0±0.3 (ref. 4). The necrotic activity in vivo and the cytotoxicity in vitro are produced by the same substance5. The gene encoding TNF has been identified in a human genomic DNA library using as a probe a cloned cDNA encoding a portion of rabbit TNF. The regions of this gene encoding an amino-acid sequence corresponding to mature TNF have been expressed in Escherichia coli and the product of this expression isolated in pure form and shown to produce necrosis of murine tumours in vivo.

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  • 01 April 1985

    Nature 313, 803-806 (1985) On page 805, Figures 2 and 3 were transposed.

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Author notes

  1. Hirataka Ito: Technical Research Laboratory, Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd, 2-1 Samejima, Fuji-Shi, Shizuoka, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, 1450 East Duarte Road, Duarte, California, 91010, USA

    Takashi Shirai, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Hirataka Ito, Chas. W. Todd & R. Bruce Wallace

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  1. Takashi Shirai
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  2. Hiroshi Yamaguchi
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  3. Hirataka Ito
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Shirai, T., Yamaguchi, H., Ito, H. et al. Cloning and expression in Escherichia coli of the gene for human tumour necrosis factor. Nature 313, 803–806 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/313803a0

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