[Biological analysis of a novel gene related with interleukin-6].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the action mechanism of interleukin (IL)-6 through investigation of its related genes. METHODS: Using electronic cloning with IL-6-related expressed sequence tags (ESTs), a novel gene at its full length of 924 bp was acquired. Reverse transcriptase-PCR method was subsequently employed to amplify the cDNA of this gene from the total RNA of human U937 cells, which were previously activated with 100 ng/ml IL-6 for 8 h. The fragment was then ligated into the pGEM-Teasy vector and sequence analysis was conducted. RESULT: The whole cDNA gene was successfully fished. CONCLUSION: Electronic cloning technology can be instrumental in identifying novel genes.