Development of a biotinylated analog of substance P for use as a receptor probe

The development of a biotinylated substance P (SP) analog for use as a receptor probe is reported. The lysine in position 3 of SP was substituted by arginine and an amino terminal extension (NTE-SP) was added consisting of Lys-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly-Gly. Biotinylation of the N-terminal lysine was performed. The biotinylated peptide was purified by high performance liquid chromatography and characterized by mass spectral analysis. Binding studies using human IM-9 lymphoblasts with the biotinylated SP analog (biotin-NTE[Arg3]SP) and native SP yielded dissociation curves which were identical. In addition, the biotinylated SP analog retained functional activity similar to that of native SP in altering intracellular calcium concentration of Fura-2 loaded isolated rabbit colonic myocytes. Applicability of the SP receptor probe was demonstrated by using the streptavidin-peroxidase detection system to identify SP receptors on human IM-9 lymphoblasts. In conclusion, a biotinylated SP analog has been developed which retains the functional characteristics of the native peptide and is a useful and versatile probe for receptor studies.

Isolation of the neuropeptide SALMFamide-1 from starfish using a new antiserum

We have raised antisera in rabbits to a conjugate of thyroglobulin and Lys-Tyr-Ser-Ala-Leu-Met-Phe-NH2 (KYSALMFamide), a synthetic analog of the starfish neuropeptide S1 (Gly-Phe-Asn-Ser-Ala-Leu-Met- Phe-NH2). The sensitivity and specificity of two antisera (BL and SL) for S1 were established by testing the ability of S1 and structurally related peptides (SALMFamide-2 and various FMRFamide-related peptides) to displace iodinated KYSALMFamide from the serum antibodies in an RIA. Both antisera are sensitive to femtomolar amounts of S1. BL is highly specific for S1 but SL is not, since it is also able to detect femtomolar amounts of the FMRFamide-related peptides. We have used the BL antiserum in the RIA to monitor the purification of S1 immunoreactivity from radial nerve cord extracts of both Asterias rubens and Pycnopodia helianthoides. The partial amino acid sequence GFNSALM was obtained from automated Edman degradation sequencing of pure immunoreactive peaks from both species.

Structural characterization of calcitonin gene-related peptide purified from rabbit intestine

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) immunoreactive material has been found in extracts of the intestine, however, the structure of intestinal CGRP is not known. Analytical reverse phase HPLC and ion-exchange FPLC revealed one predominant immunoreactive CGRP peak in rabbit intestinal extracts. This material was purified from rabbit intestine by sequential steps of reverse phase HPLC and ion-exchange FPLC. Microsequence and mass spectral analysis of the purified peptide and its chymotryptic fragments were consistent with the structure: GCNTATCVTHRLAGLLSRSGGMVKSNFVPTNVGSEAF-amide. Rabbit intestinal CGRP is identical to human CGRP-II in 35 of 37 amino acid residues. Two amino acid differences were detected at position 1, with Gly in rabbit CGRP instead of Ala in human CGRP-II, and at position 35, with Glu instead of Lys, respectively. Rabbit CGRP differed from human CGRP-I by three additional amino acids at positions 3, 22, and 25. This report shows that a CGRP form which closely resembles human CGRP-II, by means of chemical characterization, is the predominant form in rabbit intestine. Rabbit CGRP is the only CGRP form which has Gly as the amino terminal amino acid. Since the amino terminus of CGRP seems to be important for expression of bioactivity, the biological activity of rabbit CGRP may differ from human, rat and porcine CGRP.

Biotinylation of a bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide analogue for use as a receptor probe

The development of a biotinylated bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) for use as a receptor probe is reported. The lysine13 of a GRP-27 was substituted by arginine and lysine was added to the amino terminus. Biotinylation of the N-terminal lysine was performed. The biotinylated peptide was purified by HPLC and characterized by mass spectral analysis. Binding studies with murine Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts, cells known to express bombesin/GRP receptors, yielded a dissociation curve for the biotinylated GRP-27 analogue (biotin-Lysyl[Asp12,Arg13]GRP-27) which was nearly identical to that of native GRP. Using studies of gastrin release from isolated canine G cells, equipotent functional activity of the biotinylated probe and unmodified GRP was demonstrated. Measurements of retained 125I-avidin confirmed that the biotin/avidin interaction could occur once the biotin-peptide complex was bound. Applicability of the probe was demonstrated with fluorescent microscopy using avidin-FITC on Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts. In conclusion, a novel biotinylated bombesin/GRP analogue has been developed which retains the functional characteristics of the native peptide and is a useful probe for receptor studies.

Cloning of cDNAs encoding amphibian bombesin: evidence for the relationship between bombesin and gastrin-releasing peptide

Bombesin is a tetradecapeptide originally isolated from frog skin; its mammalian homologue is the 27-amino acid peptide gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP). cDNAs encoding GRP have been cloned from diverse species, but little is yet known about the amphibian bombesin precursor. Mass spectrometry of HPLC-separated skin exudate from Bombina orientalis was performed to demonstrate the existence of authentic bombesin in the skin of this frog. A cDNA library was prepared from the skin of B. orientalis and mixed oligonucleotide probes were used to isolate cDNAs encoding amphibian bombesin. Sequence analysis revealed that bombesin is encoded in a 119-amino acid prohormone. The carboxyl terminus of bombesin is flanked by two basic amino acids; the amino terminus is not flanked by basic amino acids but is flanked by a chymotryptic-like cleavage site. Northern blot analysis demonstrated similarly sized bombesin mRNAs in frog skin, brain, and stomach. Polymerase chain reaction was used to show that the skin and gut bombesin mRNAs encoded the identical prohormones. Prohormone processing, however, differed between skin and gut. Chromatography showed the presence of only authentic bombesin in skin whereas gut extracts contained two peaks of bombesin immunoreactivity, one consistent in size with bombesin and one closer in size to mammalian GRP. Thus the same bombesin prohormone is processed solely to bombesin in skin but is processed to a peptide similar in size to bombesin and to a peptide similar in size to mammalian GRP in stomach.

Low immunoreactivity of canine cholecystokinin-58

The immunoreactivity of intact and trypsinized canine cholecystokinin-58 was examined using five C-terminally directed cholecystokinin antisera. Cholecystokinin-58 was nearly as immunoreactive as sulfated, amidated cholecystokinin-8 with one cholecystokinin-specific antiserum and an antiserum with moderate (18%) gastrin cross-reactivity, but two to four times less immunoreactive than the octapeptide with two other cholecystokinin-specific antisera and an antiserum with full cross-reactivity with cholecystokinin and gastrin. The cross-reactivity of cholecystokinin-58 with all antisera was increased by trypsinization, and the magnitude of the increase was related to the degree of trypsinization. These results suggest that it is not possible to measure absolute cholecystokinin levels in tissue and blood with antisera reported to date and that cholecystokinin-58 has a tertiary structure that influences its binding to cholecystokinin antibodies.

Molecular variants of cholecystokinin after endogenous stimulation in humans: a time study

The time-dependent release of molecular variants of cholecystokinin (CCK) into the circulation was studied before and 1, 2, and 4 h after a test meal in six healthy volunteers. At each time period, 100 ml of blood were drawn in a manner to inhibit CCK degradation. Plasma was formed and CCK concentrated by Sep-Pak C18 cartridge chromatography. Molecular variants of CCK and gastrin were well separated from each other by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Molecular forms of CCK and gastrin were measured by radioimmunoassay using an antibody that requires the presence of the carboxyl-terminal phenylalanine amide for full recognition, implying that biologically active forms were detected. HPLC elution positions of gastrin forms were determined using a gastrin-specific antibody. Chromatographic separation of CCK from gastrin forms was complete, allowing separate integration of gastrin and CCK forms. Therefore no subtraction of gastrin-like immunoreactivity from CCK-like immunoreactivity (CCK-LI) was necessary and CCK-LI could be directly determined. Peaks of CCK-LI were integrated in the column eluates and the plasma concentrations were calculated. Total plasma CCK-LI rose from a value of 2.4 +/- 0.6 pM before the test meal to 6.4 +/- 0.8, 6.6 +/- 0.9, and 5.8 +/- 1.2 pM 1, 2, and 4 h postprandially. The major molecular forms released into the circulation eluted on HPLC in the position of CCK-58 and CCK-39 (which coelutes with CCK-33). Minor amounts were detected in the position of CCK-8. There was no significant difference in the relative proportions of the molecular forms released at the different time periods.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In-vitro production of precursor peptides for thyrotropin-releasing hormone by human semen

Thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) and related peptides occur in high concentrations in human semen. TRH derives from a 242-amino acid precursor protein, prepro-TRH, with six repetitive sequences of -Lys-Arg-Gln-His-Pro-Gly-Lys/Arg)-Arg- connected by hydrophobic linking sequences. Antibodies to TRH-Gly (pGlu-His-Pro-Gly), a final precursor for TRH formation, were used to detect this tetrapeptide as well as other prepro-TRH fragments which cross-react with these antibodies. The total TRH-Gly immunoreactivity decreased significantly after vasectomy. The TRH-Gly immunoreactivity in semen increased significantly during in-vitro incubation at 0 or 37 degrees C, to a peak value at 5 h, followed by an exponential decline, with t 1/2 equal to 11 h at 37 degrees C. At 60 degrees C, however, the TRH-Gly immunoreactivity rose continuously, attaining, after 20 h, a level 2.2 times that at the start of the incubation (P less than 0.001). Reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed both hydrophobic and hydrophilic TRH-Gly immunoreactive peptides in semen with both classes of peptides increasing significantly with heating to 60 degrees C. Cation exchange chromatography of pooled human semen incubated at 60 degrees C revealed a 4.3-fold increase in a TRH-Gly immunoreactive peak which co-eluted with synthetic TRH-Gly, and a 30% increase in another TRH-Gly immunoreactive peak identified as Glu-His-Pro-Gly. A minor, TRH-Gly immunoreactive peak increased 50-fold (P less than 0.001) during 20 h at 60 degrees C. This material co-eluted with Arg-Gln-His-Pro-Gly which is formed by enzymic cleavage of the paired basic residues flanking this sequence in prepro-TRH. When synthetic Arg-Gln-His-Pro-Gly was incubated with fresh semen at 60 degrees C a rapid conversion of most of this peptide to Glu-His-Pro-Gly, Gln-His-Pro-Gly and TRH-Gly occurred within 30 min. These data are consistent with thermal inactivation of the amidation and degrading enzymes at 60 degrees C while the trypsin-like enzymes which cleave the precursor peptide at the paired basic residues remain relatively unaffected. Because other investigators have found the C-terminal amidating enzymes to be associated with secretory vesicles and to be co-secreted with the vesicular contents, we suggest that secretory epithelia of the male reproductive system secrete TRH and TRH-related precursor peptides along with the alpha-amidating enzymes which continue processing of prepro-TRH in the post-ejaculatory seminal fluid.

Characterization of the major form of cholecystokinin in human intestine: CCK-58

Acid extracts of human intestines obtained from surgical samples or from organ donors contain cholecystokinin (CCK) immunoreactivity. From surgical samples, extracted and eluted quickly, greater than 75% of the CCK immunoreactivity eluted in the same region as purified canine CCK-58 during analytical reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). A major portion of the CCK immunoreactivity from donor intestinal extracts also eluted in this region. This immunoreactivity has been purified from human intestinal extracts by a series of several reverse-phase and cation-exchange chromatographies. Amino acid and microsequence analysis showed that this immunoreactivity is human CCK-58. Tryptic digestion of purified human CCK-58 produced another immunoreactive form that eluted in the position of CCK-8 during analytical reverse-phase HPLC. The immunoreactivity of the trypsin-digested material was 2.6-fold higher than that of an identical sample of CCK-58 incubated without trypsin. Thus the carboxyl-terminal antibody used for radioimmunoassay cross-reacts greater than twofold less with human CCK-58. This diminished cross-reactivity would lead to an underestimation of the relative proportions of CCK-58 in tissue and plasma extracts. If CCK-58 is the major circulating form this diminished cross-reactivity would also lead to underestimations of the circulating levels of total CCK. Determination of human CCK-58 structure confirms that one of the major components of human CCK that expresses biological activity is CCK-58.

Biological activity of a bombesin-like peptide extracted from the intestine of the ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei

1. Ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei) intestines were boiled in water to inactivate proteases and then treated with cold 4% trifluoroacetic acid to extract bombesin-like peptides. 2. The extract was fractionated in several steps using reverse-phase and ion exchange HPLC, and bombesin-like immunoreactive peptides were detected by radioimmunoassay using an antiserum specific for the bioactive C-terminal region of bombesin. 3. A highly purified bombesin-like peptide-containing fraction stimulated amylase release in a dose-responsive fashion from rat pancreatic acini; the dose-response curve was parallel to a bombesin standard, and the ratfish peptide stimulated the same maximal rate of amylase secretion as the bombesin standard. 4. A potent, highly selective bombesin receptor antagonist completely abolished the stimulation of amylase release caused by the ratfish peptide, demonstrating the specificity of the response. 5. Estimates of the bombesin-like peptide concentration of this fraction by radioimmunoassay and by bioassay were nearly identical, indicating that ratfish bombesin is very similar biologically and antigenically to frog skin bombesin.

Characterization of the carboxyl terminal flanking peptide of rat progastrin

A peptide identical in structure to the carboxyl-terminal flanking nonapeptide of rat progastrin, predicted by cDNA sequence, was synthesized. The synthetic peptide was used for production of a rabbit antiserum. This antiserum was used to develop a radioimmunoassay specific for rat carboxyl terminal flanking peptide. This assay was used to monitor the purification of immunoreactivity from rat antral extracts. Gel permeation, anion exchange and reverse phase chromatography steps resulted in a single absorbance peak associated with the carboxyl terminal flanking peptide immunoreactivity. The purified peptide eluted in the same position as the synthetic peptide during all three types of chromatography. This material was shown to be identical in mass to Ser-Ala-Glu-Glu-Glu-Asp-Gln-Tyr-Asn, the predicted sequence of the carboxyl terminal nonapeptide of rat progastrin.

Multiple gastrin-releasing peptide gene-associated peptides are produced by a human small cell lung cancer line

Products of the gastrin-releasing peptide gene were isolated from culture medium supernatant of a small cell lung cancer line, NCI-H345, by several (high performance liquid chromatography) HPLC steps. The column eluates were monitored by immunoassay and absorbance profiles. Gastrin-releasing peptide was identified in HPLC eluates by a specific radioimmunoassay. Two carboxyl-terminal gastrin-releasing peptide gene-associated peptides were identified by a radioimmunoassay specific for their predicted carboxyl terminus. The amino termini of these two peptides were determined by microsequence analysis. The shorter peptide was revealed to be a fragment of the larger peptide. Expression of an alternate mRNA was shown by isolation and characterization of a novel tetradecapeptide. Amino acid analysis, microsequence analysis, and mass spectral analysis confirmed that the structure was Ser-Leu-Leu-Gln-Val-Leu-Asn-Val-Lys-Glu-Gly-Thr-Pro-Ser. This peptide represents the carboxyl terminus of a peptide resulting from alternate processing of gastrin releasing peptide mRNA. This mRNA contains a 19-base deletion, creating a frame shift. A radioiodinated synthetic analog of this peptide (Tyr-Leu-Val-Asp-Ser-Leu-Leu-Gln-Val-Leu-Asn-Val-Lys-Glu-Gly-Thr-Pro-Ser ) bound specifically to a small cell cancer line with high affinity, suggesting possible biological activity of the isolated peptide.

Involvement of substance P in noncholinergic excitation of rabbit colonic muscle

Neurokinins have been implicated as noncholinergic excitatory neurotransmitters in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. To characterize the myogenic and neurogenic response of colonic muscle to neurokinins we studied the mechanical response of muscle strips from proximal and distal colon and the release of [3H]acetylcholine in response to substance P (SP), neurokinin A (NKA) and neurokinin B (NKB). All neurokinins caused a dose-dependent inotropic response. SP was 80 times more potent in distal compared with proximal longitudinal muscle. The rank order of potencies in proximal longitudinal muscle was NKA greater than SP = NKB and in distal muscle NKA = SP = NKB. Desensitization to SP or pretreatment with a SP antagonist inhibited the mechanical response to SP and the atropine-resistant inotropic off response to electrical stimulation. Only longitudinal muscle from distal colon had an atropine- and hexamethonium-sensitive inotropic component to SP. In contrast, all three peptides were equipotent in releasing [3H]acetylcholine from longitudinal muscle strips preincubated with [3H]choline. These results suggest the following: 1) SP is a potent agonist of rabbit colon with a proximal distal gradient in biological potency; 2) the myogenic response of the distal colon appears to be mediated through a NK-1 receptor; and 3) SP is a major mediator of the noncholinergic component of the off response in distal longitudinal muscle.

Identification of serotonin from rabbit upper stomach as a stimulant of in vitro gallbladder contraction

Using an in vitro rabbit gallbladder bioassay, the distribution and identification of bioactive substances in rabbit gastrointestinal tract were investigated. Comparison of the bioactivities of tissue extracts before and after cholecystokinin was removed by affinity chromatography demonstrated that the distributions of cholecystokinin and non-cholecystokinin substances were different. While cholecystokinin bioactivity per g of tissue was highest in the duodenum, non-cholecystokinin bioactivity was greatest in the upper stomach. The biochemical properties of the non-cholecystokinin substance in the upper stomach could not be distinguished from those of serotonin. These included molecular weights of 176, identical ultraviolet spectra, similar nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and co-chromatography in HPLC. By weight, serotonin had 1/6th of the bioactivity of cholecystokinin octapeptide. We conclude that the principal gallbladder-contracting substance in rabbit upper stomach is serotonin.

Processing of mammalian preprogastrin-releasing peptide

The processing of preprogastrin-releasing peptide in mammalian tissues and in cultured cells takes place at discrete sites (Figure 6). Signal peptidase cleaves away the signal peptide from the amino terminus of gastrin-releasing peptide. An exopeptidase activity may remove dipeptides from the amino terminus. The amidation site (not shown in Fig. 6; see Fig. 2) has the same general sequence (Gly-Lys-Lys) seen for other amidated peptides. Cleavage after single basic residues yields gene-related products from Form I or II preproGRP. A unique non-basic cleavage yields a gene-related product from Form III preproGRP. The processing that occurs to form GRP, GRP, and GRP gene-related peptides is shown in Figure 7. ProGRP is cleaved by a series of enzymes to form GRP with an amidated carboxyl-terminal methionine (indicated by an asterisk in Fig. 7). GRP is cleaved to form the decapeptide GRP. The carboxyl-terminal flanking peptides of all three mRNA translation products are cleaved to form several gastrin-releasing peptide gene-related products. Knowledge of the processing of gastrin-releasing peptide and its gene-related products will allow synthesis of duplicates of the stored forms of these peptides, which can then be used for biological testing.

Chemical characterization of rat cholecystokinin-58

Cholecystokinin-58 (CCK-58) was purified from rat intestines using an extraction method that yields large amounts of this peptide. Greater than 30% of total CCK immunoreactivity eluted before CCK-39 upon gel permeation chromatography (Sephadex G-50) if extracts were loaded onto Sep Pak cartridges before freezing. If the extracts were frozen and stored at -70 degrees C for six weeks, only 20% of the material eluted in this region and total immunoreactivity was reduced by 50%, suggesting that proteases were active under these storage conditions. This early eluting peak was purified by reverse phase and ion-exchange HPLC to a single absorbance peak. Microsequence analysis of this peak detected AVLRPDSEP which is the amino terminus of rat CCK-58 predicted from the rat preprocholecystokinin cDNA. Because degradation of CCK-58 occurred in these extracts, it is possible that CCK-58 is the predominant molecule form in the rat small intestine.

Plasma very low density lipoproteins contain a single molecule of apolipoprotein B

Rat and human very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) were fractionated by zonal ultracentrifugation, yielding sharply defined fractions with narrow sedimentation limits. Sedimentation coefficients for the individual fractions were determined at two densities with the analytical ultracentrifuge, and the results were analyzed to yield buoyant densities and molecular weights for the particles in each fraction. For the rat lipoproteins, the weight concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, phospholipid, and protein were determined for each fraction, and their molar concentrations of apolipoprotein B were measured with a radioimmunoassay. For the human lipoproteins the corresponding values were taken from Patsch et al. (Patsch, W., J. R. Patsch, G. M. Kostner, S. Sailer, and H. Braunsteiner. 1978. Isolation of subfractions of human very low density lipoproteins by zonal ultracentrifugation. J. Biol. Chem. 253:4911-4915). From these data, a ratio of the number of apoB peptides to the number of lipoprotein particles was calculated for each fraction. This ratio was close to 1 for all VLDL fractions, ranging in particle diameter from about 40 to 80 mm and 30 to 50 mm, respectively, for rat and human VLDL. The majority rat VLDL contain B-48 rather than B-100 as their (single) apoB peptide. Based on these data, we proposed that only a single copy of B-48 is required for VLDL assembly in rat liver, unless nascent hepatic VLDL contain additional apoB peptides which are uniformly lost from the plasma VLDL particles when they are analyzed.

An amino-terminal fragment of cholecystokinin-58 is present in the gut: evidence for a similar processing site of procholecystokinin in canine gut and brain

Radioimmunoassays using antibodies specific for the carboxyl terminus of cholecystokinin (CCK) and the midportion of CCK-58 (raised against synthetic canine CCK-33-(1-27] revealed the existence of a CCK fragment in canine gut and brain extracts which lacks the biologically active carboxyl terminal immunoreactivity. This material eluted on Sephadex G-50 gel permeation chromatography in the region of CCK-58, on high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) after CCK-39 and before CCK-58, and on cation-exchange FPLC it eluted after CCK-58. The immunoreactive pattern, the ratio of absorbance at 280-220 nm and the chromatographic elution positions suggest that this large CCK-like molecule represents an amino-terminal fragment of CCK-58. This fragment is present in canine gut and brain. Therefore, a similar processing site of procholecystokinin is suggested in both tissues.

Solid phase synthesis and characterization of two canine gut gastrin-releasing peptides

Two canine gastrin-releasing peptides originally isolated from gut tissue extracts have been synthesized by solid phase methodology and purified by preparative reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The synthetic gastrin-releasing peptides GRP1-27 and GRP 5-27 were characterized with regard to homogeneity and composition using nine different RP-HPLC systems, mass spectroscopy, amino acid analysis, Edman degradation, methionine oxidation, and peptide mapping with tryptic, Staph. aureus V8 protease and cyanogen bromide cleavage (the latter two systems performed only with GRP 1-27). Although a scarcity of the natural products prevented quantitative biological comparison of the synthetic and natural peptides, they were found to elute identically on RP-HPLC co-chromatography and similar dose dependent biological potencies were observed in canine antral muscle tissue contraction experiments. Indeed, all the peptides containing the bombesin-like carboxyl terminal decapeptide sequence studied to date have similar biological activities.

Isolation and characterization of rabbit gastrin

The heptadecapeptide form the rabbit gastrin was extracted from 16 rabbit antra and purified by a combination of DEAE Sephadex, C-18 SEP PAK cartridges, fast performance liquid chromatography (FPLC) and reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) steps. After the HPLC purification, a sharp, single peak of gastrin-like immunoreactivity was detected that had the same absorption to immunoreactivity ratio as human gastrin. An amino terminal pyrrolidone carboxylic acid blocking group was removed by incubation with pyrrolidone carboxylic peptidase. The amino acid analysis, microsequence analysis and mass spectrometry all confirmed the structure of rabbit gastrin being pQGPWLQEEEEAYGWMDFamide. This sequence is identical to human gastrin-17 except for glutamine in position 6 which replaces glutamate in human gastrin. Both sulfated and unsulfated rabbit gastrin-17 were characterized by mass spectrometry.

Biological activity of oxidized and reduced iodinated bombesins

A method is reported for preparing oxidized and reduced iodinated Tyr4-bombesin. Iodogen was used to iodinate Tyr4-bombesin and the reaction products were separated by reverse-phase HPLC. The peak of oxidized label was then reduced by incubation with 725 mM dithiothreitol at 80 degrees C (pH 8.0) for one hour and the reaction products separated by HPLC as before. The reduced but not oxidized peaks of 125I-Tyr4-bombesin stimulated amylase release from rat pancreatic acini in vitro. We conclude that oxidation of bombesin producing C-terminal methionine sulfoxide destroys the biological activity of the peptide and that this form of oxidation can be reversed.

Autocrine growth of murine lymphoma cells

By using an assay system in which small numbers of murine T lymphoma cells are stimulated to grow in serum-free medium, we have continued and expanded our previous studies of an autocrine growth factor that we call leukemia-derived growth factor (LDGF). We show that a T lymphoma cell line of immature phenotype, adapted to growth in serum-free medium, produces and responds to LDGF. LDGF activity is distinct from activities of 10 highly purified or recombinant hematopoietic growth factors including IL-1 and IL-2. However, growth-stimulating activity for the murine lymphoma cells is provided by a partially purified human LDGF.