Characterisation and expression analysis of the chicken interleukin-7 receptor alpha chain

• Published in: Developmental and comparative immunology 2009-09, Vol.33 (9), p.1018-1026
• Main Authors: van Haarlem, Daphne A., van Kooten, Peter J.S., Rothwell, Lisa, Kaiser, Pete, Vervelde, Lonneke
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Chickens - immunology; Concanavalin A - pharmacology; Cytokine; Down-Regulation - drug effects; Down-Regulation - immunology; Immune response; Interleukin receptor; Lymphocyte Activation - drug effects; Molecular Sequence Data; Receptors, Interleukin-7 - biosynthesis; Receptors, Interleukin-7 - immunology; Sequence Alignment; T cell activation; T cell memory; T-Lymphocyte Subsets - drug effects; T-Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology
• ISSN: 0145-305X; 1879-0089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2009.05.001

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a central regulator of T cell survival and homeostasis and its expression is indicative for naïve and memory T cells. We cloned chicken IL-7Rα (CHIL-7Rα) and determined its expression profile in chicken lymphocyte subpopulations. The predicted protein sequence contained 460 amino acids. The extracellular domain exhibited features typical of a type I cytokine receptor; a fibronectin type III domain and the GXWSXWS motif were conserved. ChIL-7Rα mRNA is highly expressed in lymphoid organs and in CD4+, CD8α+ and CD8β+ cells. A monoclonal antibody was generated and expression of the protein investigated. ChIL-7Rα was expressed on CD4+ and CD8α+, but not CD8β+, T cells, in contrast to the high mRNA expression levels in all of these cells. Upon polyclonal stimulation with ConA, IL-7Rα was rapidly down-regulated on T cells, suggesting that in the chicken expression of this receptor might also be correlated to the T cell activation status.