Expression of functional interleukin-12 from mouse in transgenic tomato plants

Abel Gutiérrez-Ortega, Claudia Sandoval-Montes, Teresa Jesús De Olivera-Flores, Leopoldo Santos-Argumedo, Miguel Ángel Gómez-Lim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transgenic plants have been employed successfully as a low-cost system for the production of therapeutically valuable proteins, including antibodies, antigens and hormones. Here, we report the expression of a cytokine with immunomodulatory function, mouse interleukin-12 (IL-12), in transgenic tomato plants. Single-chain mouse IL-12 driven by the CaMV 35S promoter, accumulates to high levels in leaves and fruits (up to 7.3 and 3.4 μg per gram of fresh weight, respectively). Mouse IL-12 expressed in tomato displays biological activity in vitro, as determined by interferon-γ (IFN-γ) secretion by T cells. Possible uses of this plant-based cytokine involving mucosal delivery are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)877-885
Number of pages9
JournalTransgenic Research
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Interferon gamma
  • Interleukin-12
  • Recombinant proteins
  • Tomato
  • Transgenic plants

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