Several reports have described "multifunctional" eukaryotic mRNAs producing more than one protein through alternative translational initiation at multiple AUG codons. There are 2 such codons in the 5' region of our recently cloned limitin gene where 2 open reading frames overlap by 34 nucleotides. The deduced protein translated from the first ATG contains 33 amino acids, lacks a signal peptide, and has no obvious effects on the transfected 293T cells. We found that the second ATG is more effective as a translational initiation site than the first ATG and yields a secreted protein of 182 amino acids with the same activity as products made with full-length limitin cDNA. Immunohistochemical and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the longer limitin protein is produced by mature T lymphocytes in spleen and thymus as well as by bronchial epithelial and salivary duct cells in healthy mice. Properties of recombinant limitin were determined, revealing it to be a serologically distinct, heat- and acid-stable, heparin-binding glycoprotein with the potential for dimerization. Although the longer limitin protein is structurally and characteristically related to type I interferons, its production is uniquely regulated by translation as well as transcription.