E. Rinderknecht is the first-listed author of primary studies with R. E. Humbel that chemically characterized serum polypeptides with insulin-like and growth-promoting activity. Their 1976 amino-terminal sequencing paper compared two preparations then called NSILA I and II and proposed the designation insulin-like growth factor from their biological properties and resemblance to insulin.[ref]
Of the first thirty-one residue positions examined, twenty-two were identical between the two polypeptides. That is about identity over the measured segment: substantial similarity, but not identity of the entire molecules. The measured segment and the comparison being made must therefore accompany any percentage. The later complete sequence of insulin-like growth factor 1 supplied a more extensive chemical description.[ref]
The scientific contribution is a shift from classifying preparations by their effects to distinguishing specific related proteins. Shared biological activity, shared amino-terminal residues and a complete molecular sequence are progressively different kinds of evidence; none should be silently substituted for another.
- Amino-terminal sequences of two polypeptides from human serum with nonsuppressible insulin-like and cell-growth-promoting activities: evidence for structural homology with insulin B chain by E. Rinderknecht and R. E. Humbel
- The amino acid sequence of human insulin-like growth factor I and its structural homology with proinsulin by E. Rinderknecht and R. E. Humbel
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