Induction of leucine aminopeptidase by interferon-gamma. Identification by protein microsequencing after purification by preparative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

The protein previously called "Mr approximately 50/pI approximately 6.9," which we observed to be induced by the immunoregulatory cytokine interferon (IFN)-gamma in human fibroblasts, was purified from a total cell lysate by preparative two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified by partial amino-terminal sequencing as leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), a 53-kDa cytosolic exopeptidase. Induction of LAP protein by IFN-gamma, confirmed by immunoblotting with an antiserum raised against bovine lens LAP, is a consequence of induction of LAP mRNA and occurs in all four human cell lines examined: HS153 fibroblasts, ACHN renal carcinoma, A549 lung carcinoma, and A375 melanoma. Induction of LAP mRNA is a secondary response to IFN-gamma, blocked by inhibition of protein synthesis with cycloheximide.