title: Molecular cloning of the feline thymus and activation-regulated chemokine cDNA and its expression in lesional skin of cats with eosinophilic plaque.
abstract: Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) is a member of CC chemokine and plays an essential role in recruitment of CC chemokine receptor 4 positive Th2 cells to allergic lesion. To investigate the association of TARC in allergic inflammation of cats, a TARC cDNA was cloned from feline thymus by RT-PCR with 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method. The feline TARC clone contained a full length open reading frame encoding 99 amino acids which shared 80.8%, 72.5%, 65.6% and 67.8% homology with dog, human, mouse and rat homologues, respectively. Expression of TARC mRNA was detected not only in thymus but also in spleen, lung, lymph node, kidney, small intestine, colon and skin of the normal cat tissues examined. Furthermore, it was found that TARC mRNA was strongly expressed in lesional skin of cats with eosinophilic plaque. The present results demonstrated that TARC might be involved in the pathogenesis of eosinophilic plaque in cats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Sadatoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okayama
authors.forename: Keitaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohmori
authors.forename: Kenichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsujimoto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D002415:Cats; D054414:Chemokine CCL17; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000662:veterinary*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C106230:CCL17 protein, human; D054414:Chemokine CCL17; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger