Sm. Yang et al., Canine interleukin-13: Molecular cloning of full-length cDNA and expression of biologically active recombinant protein, J INTERF CY, 20(9), 2000, pp. 779-785
Interleukin-13 (IL-13) regulates immune responses mediated by type 2 T help
er lymphocytes (Th2) in the human and mouse. To study the function of this
cytokine in the dog, we have isolated a cDNA that encodes the full-length c
anine IL-13 (CaIL-13) precursor polypeptide of 131 amino acids. CaIL-13 sha
res significant homology with the IL-13 amino acid sequences of cattle (54.
1%), mouse (39.6%), and rat (36.6%) but shares the highest identity with hu
man IL-13 (HuIL-13) (61.8%), The predicted CaIL-13 mature polypeptide of 11
1 residues was expressed in bacteria, and recombinant CaIL-13 (rCaIL-13) wa
s isolated from inclusion bodies and refolded. rCaIL-13 stimulated the prol
iferation of TF-1 cells, which are derived from human erythroleukemia cells
and respond to IL-13 as well as to a number of other human and murine cyto
kines, CaIL-13 mRNA was readily detectable by reverse transcriptase-polymer
ase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in cells from lymph nodes and peripheral blood.
The gene sequence and biologically active recombinant protein for CaIL-13
will be useful reagents to determine the role of IL-13 in the regulation of
canine immune responses.