Molecular characteristics of rhesus macaque interleukin-22: cloning, in vitro expression and biological activities

Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is a potential therapeutic agent for diseases driven by epithelial injury. To characterize the IL-22 expressed by rhesus macaques, animals that are irreplaceable for human disease research, rhesus macaque IL-22 (rhIL-22) was cloned and expressed, and its biological activity and in vivo distribution were examined. It was found that the rhIL-22 gene consists of five introns and six exons, including a short non-coding exon starting 22 bp downstream of a putative TATA box. The amino acid sequence of rhIL-22 showed 95·5% identity to that of humans, and it shared two conserved disulphide bonds, three N-glycosylation sites and all the critical residues for binding to IL-22R1. High levels of IL-22 mRNA were observed in the liver, pancreas, lymphoid tissues and especially in the outer-body barriers such as the intestinal tract of rhesus macaques. Functionally, purified rhIL-22 has a similar but a little earlier effect on signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 phosphorylation at Tyr705 compared with that of commercial human IL-22. The expression of the antibacterial proteins β-defensin-2, S100A8, S100A9, RegIIIα and Muc1 by HT-29 cells was largely upregulated after stimulation with rhIL-22. Recombinant rhIL-22 could also significantly promote the proliferation of human intestinal epithelial cells without affecting cell apoptosis. These data indicate that rhesus macaque IL-22 is highly similar to that of humans in both structure and function, and tests of therapeutic effects of human IL-22 on human diseases in rhesus macaques are warranted.