Rhesus macaque Interferon- (rMamu IFN-)

IFN- has antiviral activity, primes macrophage and NK antitumoral activity as well as cytotoxic mechanisms. Essentially produced by hematopoietic cell lineages.

rMamu and other Old World primate IFN- cDNA code for a 165 aa polypeptide precusor including a 23 aa signal peptide (resulting in a142 aa mature polypeptide) that is 95.2% homologous to human IFN- (Genbank accession number L26024, Villinger et al, J Immunol 1995 155:3946-3954). A major difference between human and Old World primate IFN- (macaques, baboons and cercocebus) is the absence of a Leucine residue at position 158, a site that contains a major antigenic epitope of IFN-. This is hypothesized to be at the origin of a lack of cross reactivity of several monoclonal antibodies derived against human IFN- to monkey IFN-.

rMamu IFN- is produced as a mature polypeptide in E coli using the pET32 expression vector with an enterokinase digestion site to ensure the absence of extraneous residues at the aminoterminus. Alternatively, small quantities may be prepared from CHO cells transfected with a pED vector followed by affinity purification.

Purity is verified by PAGE electrophoresis and absence of endotoxin by LAL test.

Bioactivity of each lot is tested based on induction of protection from CPE development in A549 cells infected with EMCV. Biological activity levels vary from batch to batch but is generally of the order of 1x10⁶ U/mg.