Phosphorylation of the proto-oncogene product eukaryotic initiation factor 4E is a common cellular response to tumor necrosis factor.

The initiation of mRNA translation is regulated by the reversible phosphorylation of several initiation factors. We report here that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) rapidly stimulates phosphorylation of one such factor, an mRNA cap binding protein, in several cell types which are important in vitro models of TNF action. This protein has been purified, sequenced, and identified as the proto-oncogene product eukaryotic initiation factor 4E. These data show that phosphorylation of a key component of the cellular translational machinery is a common early event in the various actions of TNF in diverse cell types.