UNIQUE EXPRESSION PATTERN OF PROTEIN-KINASE-C -THETA - HIGH MESSENGER-RNA LEVELS IN NORMAL MOUSE TESTES AND IN T-LYMPHOCYTIC CELLS AND NEOPLASMS

A 2.2-kb cDNA that contains the entire coding region of mouse protein kinase C-theta (PKC-theta) was cloned from skeletal muscle mRNA using reverse transcription and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This cl one was used as a probe to study the expression of this PKC isoform in normal and transformed hemopoietic cells and other normal tissues. By far the highest steady-state level of PKC-theta mRNA was found as a 2 .8-kb transcript on a Northern blot of poly(A)+ RNA from testes. High levels were also found in skeletal muscle, spleen, T lymphomas and pur ified normal T lymphocytes, but these tissues and cells expressed two transcripts, 3.3 kb and 3.8 kb. Lower levels of similar size transcrip ts were found in normal brain, B lymphocytes and B-lymphocytic tumors and cell lines.