Axl receptor tyrosine kinase stimulated by the vitamin K-dependent protein encoded by growth-arrest-specific gene 6

• Published in: Nature (London) 1995-02, Vol.373 (6515), p.623-626
• Main Authors: Varnum, Brian C, Young, Cynthia, Elliott, Gary, Garcia, Andy, Bartley, Timothy D, Fridell, Yih-Woei, Hunt, Robert W, Trail, Geraldine, Clogston, Chris, Toso, Robert J, Yanagihara, Donna, Bennett, Larry, Sylber, Maura, Merewether, Lee Anne, Tseng, Alice, Escobar, Eva, Liu, Edison T, Yamane, Harvey K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cell physiology; Cell transformation and carcinogenesis. Action of oncogenes and antioncogenes; CHO Cells; Cricetinae; Cross-Linking Reagents; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Enzyme Activation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; letter; Leukemia; Ligands; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; multidisciplinary; Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; Protein Binding; Proteins; Proteins - isolation & purification; Proteins - metabolism; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases - metabolism; Recombinant Proteins; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tumor Cells, Cultured; Vitamin K - metabolism; Vitamins
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/373623a0

THE Axl receptor tyrosine kinase was identified as a protein encoded by a transforming gene from primary human myeloid leukaemia cells by DNA-mediated transformation of NIH 3T3 cells 1–3 . Axl is the founding member of a family of related receptors that includes Eyk 4 , encoded by a chicken proto-oncogene originally described as a retroviral transforming gene, and c-Mer 5 , encoded by a human protooncogene expressed in neoplastic B- and T-cell lines. The transforming activity of Axl demonstrates that the receptor can drive cellular proliferation. The function of Axl in non-transformed cells and tissues is unknown, but may involve the stimulation of cell proliferation in response to an appropriate signal, namely a ligand that activates the receptor. We report here the purification of an Axl stimulatory factor, and its identification as the product of growth-arrest-specific gene 6 (ref. 6). This is, to our knowledge, the first description of a ligand for the Axl family of receptors.