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Sequence of cDNA encoding human insulin-like growth factor I precursor

Nature volume 306, pages 609–611 (1983)Cite this article

Abstract

Somatomedins (SM) or insulin-like growth factors (IGF) constitute a heterogeneous group of peptides1 with important growth-promoting effects in vitro2,3 as well as in vivo4,5. Amino acid sequences have been determined for only two of them, IGF-I and IGF-II, which are highly homologous6,7. IGF-I, which is identical with SM-C8, is composed of 70 amino acid residues and IGF-II contains 73 amino acids and may be identical with SM-A9. Other peptides with different charge properties but with similar SM-like or insulin-like behaviour in biological and receptor assays, have been described but have not yet been fully characterized1. The liver is known to be a major site of production of these peptides10, but many other tissues—especially in the fetus11—may synthesize them as well. We report here the nucleotide sequence of a human liver cDNA encoding the complete amino acid sequence of IGF-I. The IGF-I coding region is flanked by sequences encoding an amino-terminal peptide of at least 25 amino acid residues and a carboxyl-terminal peptide of 35 amino acids. This provides evidence that IGF-I is synthesized as a precursor protein and that formation of IGF-I from this precursor requires proteolytic processing at both ends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

    M. Jansen & J. L. Van den Brande

  2. Laboratory for Physiological Chemistry, State University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

    F. M. A. van Schaik & J. S. Sussenbach

  3. Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    A. T. Ricker, B. Bullock, D. E. Woods & K. H. Gabbay

  4. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA

    A. T. Ricker, B. Bullock, D. E. Woods, K. H. Gabbay & A. L. Nussbaum

Authors
  1. M. Jansen
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  2. F. M. A. van Schaik
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  3. A. T. Ricker
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  4. B. Bullock
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  5. D. E. Woods
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  6. K. H. Gabbay
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  7. A. L. Nussbaum
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  8. J. S. Sussenbach
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  9. J. L. Van den Brande
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Jansen, M., van Schaik, F., Ricker, A. et al. Sequence of cDNA encoding human insulin-like growth factor I precursor. Nature 306, 609–611 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/306609a0

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