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The human 4F2 cell surface antigen is a 120-kilodalton (kDa) disulfide-linked heterodimer which is composed of an 80- to 90-kDa glycosylated heavy chain (4F2HC) and a 35- to 40-kDa nonglycosylated light chain (4F2LC). 4F2 belongs to a family of inducible cell surface molecules which are involved in T-lymphocyte activation and growth. To better understand the molecular mechanism(s) that controls 4F2HC gene expression in both resting and activated T cells, a 4F2HC human genomic clone was isolated and structurally characterized. The 4F2HC gene spans 8 kilobases of chromosome 11 and is composed of nine exons. The 5' upstream region of the gene displays several properties which are characteristic of housekeeping genes. It is G+C rich and hypomethylated in peripheral blood lymphocyte DNA and contains multiple binding sites for the Sp1 transcription factor while lacking TATA or CCAAT sequences. This region of the gene also displays sequence homologies with several other inducible T-cell genes, including the interleukin-2, interleukin-2 receptor alpha chain, dihydrofolate reductase, thymidine kinase, and transferrin receptor genes. A 255-base-pair fragment of the 4F2HC gene which contains 154 base pairs of the 5' flanking sequence was able to efficiently promote expression of the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in human Jurkat T cells, indicating that it contains promoter or enhancer (or both) sequences. Analyses of chromatin structure in resting and lectin-activated T cells revealed the presence of stable DNase I-hypersensitive sites within both the 5' flanking and intron 1 regions of the 4F2HC gene. Although the 4F2HC gene displayed many of the structural features characteristic of a constitutively expressed gene, lectin-mediated activation of resting peripheral blood T lymphocytes resulted in a dramatic increase in steady-state levels of 4F2HC mRNA.

The DP subregion of the human major histocompatibility complex contains two closely linked gene pairs, DP alpha, DP beta and SX alpha, SX beta. The exon-intron organization and the complete DNA sequence of the SX alpha gene are reported here. There are several mutations within the SX alpha gene which strongly suggest that it is a pseudogene. These include two frameshift mutations, one in the alpha 1 domain and the other in the cytoplasmic domain. A 5' splice site mutation at the end of the alpha 1 exon also exists. DNA sequence homology between DP alpha and SX alpha suggests that these genes arose through a gene duplication event.

The gene encoding the beta chain of the human T-cell receptor for antigen is composed of variable (V), diversity (D), joining (J), and constant (C) gene segments which undergo specific rearrangements during T-lymphocyte ontogeny. Southern blot analyses of seven human T-cell tumor lines and normal human T-lymphocyte clones revealed that most of these T-cell lines rearrange their Ti beta genes differently. The T-cell tumor line HPB-MLT rearranges and transcribes both of its Ti beta genes. Cloning and sequencing of the Ti beta cDNAs corresponding to these rearrangements revealed that one of the rearranged Ti beta genes is defective, while the other is functional and corresponds to the Ti beta protein expressed on the surface of these cells. Thus, this cell line displays a pattern of allelic exclusion of Ti beta gene expression. A comparison of four C beta 2-containing Ti beta cDNAs from three different cell lines revealed that three of the four utilize the same J beta 2.5 gene segment joined to different D beta and V beta genes, suggesting that there may be preferential use of this J gene during J beta 2 rearrangements. Hybridization analyses with probes for the alpha and beta genes of the T-cell receptor and the T-cell-specific T gamma gene revealed that HPB-MLT cells appear to express approximately equivalent amounts of RNA corresponding to each of the rearranged Ti alpha and Ti beta genes. However, they express a much lower level of T gamma RNA.