Characteristics of a Novel Monoclonal Antibody Against Interleukin-14α

Abstract

Interleukin-14α is cytokine encoded by the plus strand of il-14 gene using exons 3–10. It has been demonstrated in an IL-14-transgenic mice model that IL-14α could enhance an immune response to both TD and TI antigens and induce a phenotype that is very similar to SLE and Sjögren's syndrome, indicating that IL-14α may play an important role in autoimmune disease. To further study the role of IL-14α in human immune diseases, there is an urgent need to generate specific anti-human IL-14α monoclonal antibodies. In this study, we immunized BALB/c mice with synthesized human IL-14α-C polypeptide and obtained a novel monoclonal antibody, the anti-IL-14α-C antibody. Analysis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), spot-ELISA, Western blot, and immuoprecipitation revealed that the MAb were specifically against recombinant human IL-14α protein, and its subtype and affinity constant (K_aff) were IgG2a/κ and 1.007 × 10⁸ M⁻¹, respectively. This antibody might facilitate studies for pathophysiology of autoimmune disease.