Dv. Smirnov et al., TANDEM ARRANGEMENT OF HUMAN GENES FOR INTERLEUKIN-4 AND INTERLEUKIN-13 - RESEMBLANCE IN THEIR ORGANIZATION, Gene, 155(2), 1995, pp. 277-281
The genes encoding human interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-13 (IL-1
3) are located on segment q23-31 of chromosome 5 and encode two multif
unctional lymphokines with some common functions. We have cloned 72 kb
of human genomic DNA that contain IL-4 and IL-13 and their flanking s
equences, and constructed a restriction map of this region. Using Sout
hern analysis, we have shown that IL-13 is located 12 kb 5' to IL-4 an
d linked in a 'tail-to-head' fashion. We have also determined the comp
lete nucleotide sequence of the DNA fragment (about 4.8 kb) containing
IL-13 and its 5' flanking regulatory region (2.1 kb) with a 'CpG isla
nd'. We identified potential binding sites for a different transcripti
on factors in the 5' flanking region and in the first intron of IL-13.
Comparison of IL-13 and IL-4 revealed considerable similarity in the
structural organization of these genes and also many potential binding
sites for transcription factors common to both genes: AP1, AP2, AP3,
PEA3, HRE, TCF-1, GATA-3 and the interferon-inducible and enhancer ele
ments. These results, along with the similarity in functional activity
of IL-4 and IL-13 suggests that their expression may be coregulated.