Institute of Molecular Biology and Medical Biotechnology, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) is the 37-amino acid peptide subunit of amyloid found in pancreatic islets of type 2 diabetic patients and in insulinomas. Recently, we isolated the human gene encoding IAPP [(1988) FEBS Lett. 239, 227-232]. We now report the nucleotide sequences of a human insulinoma cDNA encoding a complete IAPP precursor, and of the corresponding parts of the IAPP gene. Two exons, which are approx. 5 kb apart in the human genome, encode the 89-amino acid pre-pro-IAPP. At least one additional exon is present further upstream in the IAPP gene. A putative signal sequence at the amino-terminus of the precursor suggests that IAPP is a secreted protein.