ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LMC, A NOVEL LYMPHOCYTE AND MONOCYTE CHEMOATTRACTANT HUMAN CC-CHEMOKINE, WITH MYELOSUPPRESSIVE ACTIVITY

By searching the Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) data base, we identified a partial cDNA sequence encoding a novel human CC chemokine. The enti re cDNA sequence was determined and revealed a CC chemokine whose matu re protein consisted of 100 amino acids with predicted molecular weigh t of 11 kd. The chemokine preferantially chemoattracted lymphocytes an d monocytes but not neutrophils. It was, therefore, named LMC (Lymphoc yte and Monocyte Chemoattractant). LMC exhibited potent myelosuppressi ve activity, which was comparable to that of MIP-1 alpha. We identifie d several bacterial artificial clones (BAC) containing the LMC gene al ong with two human CC chemokine subfamily members; leukotactin-1 (Lkn- 1) and CK beta 8-1/CK beta 8. This data suggests that the LMC gene is located at human chromosome 17q which encompasses a human CC chemokine gene cluster. (C) 1998 Academic Press.