@Article{,
AUTHOR = {Isabelle Cognet, Florence Guilhot, Sylvie Chevalier, Angélique Guay-Giroux, Alexandra Bert, Greg C. A. Elson, Hugues Gascan, Jean-François Gauchat},
TITLE = {Expression of biologically active mouse ciliary neutrophic factor (CNTF) and soluble CNTFRα in <i>Escherichia coli</i> and characterization of their functional specificities},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {15},
YEAR = {2004},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {255--262},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v15n3/66382},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
ABSTRACT = {Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is a neuroprotective cytokine initially identified in chick
embryo. It has been evaluated for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. CNTF also acts on non-neuronal
cells such as oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, adipocytes and skeletal muscles cells. CNTF has regulatory effects on
body weight and is currently in clinical trial for the treatment of diabetes and obesity. CNTF mediates its function
by activating a tripartite receptor comprising the CNTF receptor α chain (CNTFRα), the leukemia inhibitory
factor receptor β chain (LIFRβ) and gp130. Human, rat and chicken CNTF have been expressed as recombinant
proteins, and most preclinical studies in murine models have been performed using rat recombinant protein. Rat
and human CNTF differ in their fine specificities: in addition to CNTFR, rat CNTF has been shown to activate
the LIFR (a heterodimer of LIFRβ and gp130), whereas human CNTF can bind and activate a tripartite receptor
comprising the IL-6 receptor α chain (IL-6Rα) and LIFR. To generate tools designed for mouse models of human
diseases; we cloned and expressed in <i>E. coli</i> both mouse CNTF and the CNTFRα chain. Recombinant mouse
CNTF was active and showed a high level of specificity for mouse CNTFR. It shares the arginine residue with rat
CNTF which prevents binding to IL-6Rα. It did not activate the LIFR at all concentrations tested. Recombinant
mouse CNTF is therefore specific for CNTFR and as such represents a useful tool with which to study CNTF in
mouse models. It appears well suited for the comparative evaluation of CNTF and the two additional recently
discovered CNTFR ligands, cardiotrophin-like cytokine/cytokine-like factor-1 and neuropoietin.},
DOI = {}
}