Cytokine fingerprinting

Dearman, R.J. et al., Cytokine fingerprinting of chemical allergens species comparisons and statistical analyses, Food and Chemical Toxicology, 40, 107, 2002. 

Dearman, R.J. and Kimber, I., Cytokine fingerprinting and hazard assessment of chemical respiratory allergy. J. Appl. Toxicol., 21, 153, 2001. 

It is proposed therefore that while the stimulation of cytokine production per se is a reflection of the inherent immunogenicity of a chemical, the selectivity of cytokine secretion is a function of the quality of immune response provoked and, as a consequence, is indicative of the type of allergic reaction that will develop subsequently. If such is the case then it should be possible to classify chemical allergens on the basis of cytokine selectivity. Such cytokine fingerprinting is particularly attractive as it would permit, in a single integrated... 

There are real opportunities here and attention is focused currently on examination of cytokine secretion profdes following exposure of mice to a wider range of chemical allergens. Concurrently, investigations are proceeding to determine the extent to which differential cytokine secretion reflects transcriptional activation and whether analysis of the expression by lymph node cells of mRNA for selected cytokines would provide an alternative method of fingerprinting. 

The central feature of the IL-10 family is a pronounced bend (47°-57°) in the middle of helix F (Figs. 2 and 3, Table II). Comparison of IFN-7 and IL-10 structures when they were first solved revealed five conserved residues that cluster at the bend in helix F (Leu-47, Phe-71, Tyr-72, Ala-139, and Glu-142) (Walter and Nagabhushan, 1995). These residues were predicted to be critical for maintaining the IL-10 fold and useful as a fingerprint for recognizing other cytokines that adopt IL-10-like structures. A portion of this fingerprint is most easily identified in the conserved linear amino acid sequence KAMSEFDIFI, which in the three... 

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