Phosphorylation of human interleukin-2 (IL-2)

Human interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a lymphokine which is capable of activating lymphocytes and supporting the long-term in vitro growth of activated T cell clones. Recombinant human IL-2, expressed in either E. coli or cos cells, was shown to be phosphorylated by protein kinase C. Phosphorylated IL-2 synthesized in E. coli was analyzed by SDS-PAGE, reverse phase HPLC, and tryptic peptide mapping. The phosphorylated tryptic peptide was identified as the N-terminal fragment containing a single phosphorylation site at the serine residue at position 7. There was no difference in biological activity between non-phosphorylated and phosphorylated IL-2, as determined by a T cell growth assay. Although the physiological role of phosphorylation of IL-2 is unclear, IL-2 can be labeled with [gamma-32P] ATP and protein kinase C to a high specific radioactivity, and the synthesis of biologically active 32p-labeled IL-2 may be useful for receptor-binding studies of the cells containing low level of phosphoprotein phosphotases.