Cloning of a gene that encodes a new member of the human cytotoxic cell protease family.

A family of unusual serine proteases that are believed to be involved in the effector mechanism of cell-mediated cytotoxicity have previously been described in the mouse. However, in the human only one gene encoding a member has been isolated. By use of a mixture of murine cDNAs as probes, a second human gene has now been isolated. The primary structures of the gene and the predicted protein are very similar to those of the mouse. In addition, in keeping with the postulated involvement in cytolysis, transcripts were detected only in cytotoxic cells. The organization of the coding and noncoding regions of the gene, the clustering of family members, and the chromosomal location, close to the alpha chain of the T cell antigen receptor, are all conserved between human and mouse.