Synthetic fragments of the CD4 receptor cytoplasmic domain and large polycations alter the activities of the pp56lck tyrosine protein kinase.

In CD4+ T cells, the src-like tyrosine kinase pp56lck is associated with the CD4 receptor and cross-linking of CD4 results in the activation of this enzyme. The mechanism responsible for this activation is not known, although there is evidence that the activities of the src family of enzymes are regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation. Here we report that pp56lck-catalyzed angiotensin II phosphorylations are activated 20-fold in vitro by synthetic peptides reproducing portions of the murine CD4 cytoplasmic domain.