NUCLEOTIDE AND PREDICTED PEPTIDE SEQUENCE OF FELINE INTERLEUKIN-12 (IL-12)

Feline Interleukin-12 (IL-12) is a heterodimeric glycoprotein consisti ng of two disulfide linked subunits of about 40kD (p40) and 35kD (p35) . It is a pleiotropic cytokine mediating biological activities on T- a nd NK-cells. One important function is the induction of a Th1 immune r esponse. Here we report the cloning and sequencing of feline IL-12, th e expression of the p40-protein in E. coli and production of monoclona l antibodies. At the nucleotide level, feline IL-12 shows between 87-9 0%, on the amino acid level. between 82-87% identity to the bovine and human IL-12, respectively.