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Title: Functional Characterization of Tumor Necrosis Factor Superfamily 15(TNFSF15) Induced by Lipopolysaccharides and Eimeria Infection

Author
item Park, Soon
item Lillehoj, Hyun
item Lee, Sung Eun

Submitted to: Developmental and Comparative Immunology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2007
Publication Date: 6/5/2007
Citation: Park, S.S., Lillehoj, H.S., Hong, Y.H., Lee, S. 2007. Functional Characterization of Tumor Necrosis Factor Superfamily 15(TNFSF15) Induced by Lipopolysaccharides and Eimeria Infection. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 31:934-944.

Interpretive Summary: Development of novelcontrol strategies against many poultry diseases of economic importance requiresthorough understanding of basic immunobiology of host-pathogen interaction. Inthis paper, ARS scientists cloneda new gene called tumor necrosis factorsuperfamily 15 (TNFSF15)which encodes a novel chicken cytokine involvedin inflammatory response following infection with coccidia parasites. Severaldistinct species of coccidia parasites areresponsible for intestinaldisorder called coccidiosis.TNFSF15 was highly expressed in the intestineof chickens infected with E. maxima and E. acervulina. Although the exact modeof action of TNFSF15 has not been characterized yet, this study suggests thatthe production of TNFSF15 is important for host protective immune responseagainst this parasites.

Technical Abstract: A full-length cDNA encoding chicken tumor necrosis factor superfamily 15 (TNFSF15) was isolated and its functional role was investigated. TNFSF15 transcripts were primarily expressed in spleen, liver, intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL), peripheral blood lymphocytes and bursa. In vitro infection of HTC macrophages with three species of Eimeria sporozoites induced TNFSF15 gene expression. In vivo experiments revealed that TNFSF15 gene was highly increased following primary infections with E. acervulina or E. maxima. In contrast, no consistent changes in transcript levels were seen following primary infection with E. tenella, or following secondary infection with any of the three Eimeria species. Following infection with E. acervulina and E. maxima, TNFSF15 transcripts were primarily expressed in intestinal CD4+ and TCR2+ IEL. A dose-dependent cytotoxic effect of recombinant TNFSF15 protein was observed on HTC and LSCC-RP9 tumor cells. These results indicate that TNFSF15 plays an important role in local cell-mediated immune response to Eimeria.