Molecular structures and biological activities of chicken cytokines.

In the past, studies in the chicken have made fundamental contributions to our current understanding of many immunological processes. Today, the chicken still serves as an animal model to study certain autoimmune diseases and to investigate immunogenetic aspects of disease resistance and tumor regression. Cytokines play a key role in the modulation of the immune response. Consequently, recombinant chicken cytokines are urgently needed as tools to determine the molecular basis of the above mentioned processes. Furthermore, the immunomodulatory activities of cytokines could potentially be used to improve existing vaccines against bacterial and viral diseases in chickens. Low sequence conservation between mammalian and avian cytokines renders cloning of the corresponding chicken genes by conventional hybridization methods very difficult. For this reason we apply cloning strategies that either make use of the biological activities of the corresponding cytokines (expression cloning approach) or take advantage of the fact that expression of most cytokine genes is strongly induced in response to specific stimuli (subtractive hybridization approach). The latter method may yield novel immunomodulatory molecules that have not yet been characterized in mammals.

Additional information: http://hhttp://www.ukl.uni-freiburg.de/microbio
contact person: Prof. Dr. Stäheli Peter
Phone: (0761) 203-6579
Email: staeheli@ukl.uni-freiburg.de

Start of project: 1998
End of project: 2003

Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg
Stäheli Peter
Department für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene
Institut für Virologie
Hermann-Herder-Strasse 11
79104 Freiburg
Germany

Phone: +49 761 203 6534
Fax: +49 761 203 6626
http://www.virologie.uniklinik-freiburg.de
Actual Research Report

• Industrie, DFG

Zytokine, Huhn

• Kogut M.H., Pishko E.J., Kaspers B., Weining K.C.: Modulation of functional activities of chicken heterophils by recombinant chicken IFN-gamma. Journal of interferon and cytokine research, 2001; 21: 85-92.
• Min W, Lillehoj HS, Burnside J, Weining KC, Staeheli P, Zhu JJ.: Adjuvant effects of IL-1ß, IL-2. IL-8, IFN-alpha, IFN-gamma TGF-ß4 and lymphotactin on DNA vacciination against Eimeria acervulina. Vaccine, 2001; 20: 267-274.
• Schneider K, Klaas R, Kaspers R, Staeheli P.: Chicken interleukin-6. cDNA structure and biological properties. Eur J Biochem, 2001; 268: 4200-4206.
• Staeheli P, Puehler F, Schneider K, Göbel Th W, Kaspers B: Cytokines of birds: Conserved functions - a largely different look. J Interf Cytok Res, 2001; 21: 993-1010.
• Guttenbach M., Nanda I., Brickell P.M., Godbout R., Staeheli P., Zehner Z.E., Schmid M.: Chromosomal localization of the genes encoding ALDH, BMP-2, R-FABP, IFN-gamma, RXR-gamma, and VIM in chicken by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Cytogenet Cell Genet, 2000; 88: 266-271ALDH, VIM, BM.
• Schijns V.E., Weining C., Nuijten P., Rijke E.O., Staeheli P.: Immunoadjuvant activities of E. coli- and plasmid-expressed recombinant chicken IFN-alpha/beta, IFN-gamma and IL-1-beta in 1-day and 3-week-old chickens. Vaccine, 2000; 18: 2147-2154. : http://www.ukl.uni-freiburg.de/microbio
• Schneider K., Puehler F., Baeuerle D., Elvers S., Staeheli P., Kaspers B., Weining K.C.: cDNA cloning of biologically active chicken interleukin-18. J Interf Cytok Res, 2000; 20: 879-883.
• Sick, C., Schneider, K., Staeheli, P., Weining, K.C.: Novel chicken cxc and cc chemokines. Cytokine, 2000; 12.