Cloning and expression of cDNA encoding human betacellulin, a new member of the EGF family.

Betacellulin (BTC) is a novel growth factor purified from the conditioned media of mouse pancreatic beta tumor cells and has been found to be a new member of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family. The cDNA encoding human BTC has been cloned from a cDNA library prepared from human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7. The nucleotide sequence encodes a polypeptide which consists of 178 amino acid residues including a putative signal sequence, indicating that the structural organization of human BTC is similar to that of mouse BTC. The amino acid sequence of the human BTC precursor protein exhibits 79% similarity with that of the mouse precursor protein. The BTC gene was found to be expressed in several mouse tissues including kidney and liver as well as in a mouse beta tumor cell line and MCF-7 cells, suggesting that BTC might play a physiological role in normal tissues.