Specific expression of human endothelin‐2 (ET‐2) gene in a renal adenocarcinoma cell line

Abstract
Analysis of culture medium of human renal adenocarcinoma cells ACHN by RP‐HPLC suggested that the cells specifically secreted human endothelin‐2 (ET‐2). cDNAs encoding human ET‐2 precursor were cloned from a cDNA library constructed with mRNA derived from the ACHN cells, and the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences were determined. The ET‐2 cDNA was revealed to contain 1.3 kb and encode prepro‐ET‐2 protein consisting of 178 amino acid residues. The ET‐like sequence found in the prepro‐ET‐1 and ‐ET‐3 was conserved in this prepro‐ET‐2. The Northern blot analysis of mRNA suggested that the transcript of ET‐2 gene was 1.4 kb. This is the first direct evidence that human ET‐2 gene was expressed specifically in tumor cells.