CHARACTERIZATION OF RECOMBINANT MOUSE PERFORIN EXPRESSED IN INSECT CELLS USING THE BACULOVIRUS SYSTEM

Perforin, a potent pore-forming protein, plays an important role in ki ller lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis. The studies on perforin, although already extensive, have been hampered by the limited amount of perfori n naturally available from killer lymphocytes. In the present study, a full-length mouse perforin was expressed in insect cells using recomb inant baculovirus. Recombinant perforin appeared to be functional in t erms of lysing erythrocytes and nucleated target cells. These results suggest that the recombinant DNA approach developed in the present stu dy may offer a new way for preparing sufficient amounts of engineered perforin for use in the studies aimed at dissecting the functional dom ains of the perforin molecule. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.