title: Identification of functional domains on human interleukin 10.
abstract: Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a recently described natural endogenous immunosuppressive cytokine that has been identified in human, murine, and other organisms. Human IL-10 (hIL-10) has high homology with murine IL-10 (mIL-10) as well as with an Epstein-Barr virus genome product BCRFI. This viral IL-10 (vIL-10) shares a number of activities with hIL-10. IL-10 significantly affects chemokine biology, because human IL-10 inhibits chemokine production and is a specific chemotactic factor for CD8+ T cells. It suppresses the ability of CD4+ T cells, but not CD8+ T cells, to migrate in response to IL-8. A nonapeptide (IT9302) with complete homology to a sequence of hIL-10 located in the C-terminal portion (residues 152-160) of the cytokine was found to possess activities that mimic some of those of hIL-10. These are: (i) inhibition of IL-1beta-induced IL-8 production by peripheral blood mononuclear cell, (ii) inhibition of spontaneous IL-8 production by cultured human monocytes, (iii) induction of IL-1 receptor antagonistic protein production by human monocytes, (iv) induction of chemotactic migration of CD8+ human T lymphocytes in vitro, (v) desensitization of human CD8+ T cells resulting in an unresponsiveness toward rhIL-10-induced chemotaxis, (vi) suppression of the chemotactic response of CD4+ T human lymphocytes toward IL-8, (vii) induction of IL-4 production by cultured normal human CD4+ T cells, (viii) down-regulation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha production by CD8+ T cells, and (ix) inhibition of class II major histocompatibility complex antigen expression on IFN-gamma-stimulated human monocytes. Another nonapeptide (IT9403) close to the NH2-terminal part of hIL-10 did not reveal cytokine synthesis inhibitory properties, but proved to be a regulator of mast cell proliferation. In conclusion, we have identified two functional domains of IL-10 exerting different IL-10 like activities, an observation that suggests that relatively small segments of these signal proteins are responsible for particular biological functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Marselisborg Hospital, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gesser
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leffers
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jinquan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vestergaard
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kirstein
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sindet-Pedersen
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Thestrup-Pedersen
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Larsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016753:Interleukin-10