New Sheep Reagents for Animal Health Research-Ovine TNF Alpha and CXCL9

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Dec. 7, 2013 - PRLog -- Sheep are an important part of the global agricultural economy. In addition to being a source of meat, sheep also are used to produce many products, including fleece, wool, and perhaps more importantly lanolin. Sheep suffer from many diseases that affect their health and their ability to reproduce. Research on these diseases will reduce the financial impact and adverse animal health and welfare effects of the disease on individual flocks, and on the sheep industry as a whole.

The primary role of TNF alpha is in the regulation of immune cells. TNF alpha, being an endogenous pyrogen, is able to induce fever, to induce apoptotic cell death, to induce sepsis, to induce cachexia, induce inflammation, and to inhibit tumorigenesis and viral replication. It is produced chiefly by activated macrophages, but it is produced also by a broad variety of cell types including lymphoid cells, mast cells, endothelial cells, cardiac myocytes, adipose tissue, fibroblasts, and neuronal tissue.

CXCL9 (aka MIG) is a T-cell chemoattractant, which is induced by IFN-gamma. It is closely related to two other CXC chemokines -CXCL10 and CXCL11. CXCL9 is ELR-negative and therefore is chemoattractant for lymphocytes. CXCL9 (MIG) elicits its effects by binding to the cell surface chemokine receptor CXCR3.

The Kingfisher Biotech portfolio of Sheep reagents includes eight proteins (CXCL9, CXCL10, IFN gamma, IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8, TNF alpha, and VEGF-A) and two Do-It-Yourself ELISAs (CXCL10 and VEGF-A). All ovine proteins were produced in yeast without the use of tags. Proteins produced in yeast are naturally endotoxin free, properly folded, biologically active, and may be post-translationally modified. Many scientists find that these properties make proteins produced in yeast preferable over E. coli-produced proteins. The Do-It-Yourself ELISA kits are the stand-alone unconjugated antibody (capture antibody), recombinant protein (standard), and biotinylated antibody (detection antibody). These antibodies have been shown to function together with the standard provided in an ELISA. Additional information, including product specifications and ordering information can be found at http://www.kingfisherbiotech.com.

Kingfisher Biotech is focused on providing kits and reagents to the animal health and animal model research community. Currently, the Kingfisher Biotech product portfolio contains over 750 products. Kingfisher Biotech products are supplied for research applications. They are not intended for medicinal, diagnostic or therapeutic use.