Molecular cloning of chicken interleukin-17B, which induces proinflammatory cytokines through activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway

Interleukin (IL)-17B is a little known member of the IL-17 cytokine family, which plays an important role in immunity by regulating the expression of proinflammatory cytokines. In this study, we determined the coding sequence and biological functions of a novel chicken IL-17B (chIL-17B). The full-length chIL-17B coding sequence includes 567 nucleotides encoding 188 amino acids, which was identified in small intestinal epithelial cells. The chIL-17B protein shares 96.48% amino acid sequence identity with turkey, 92.57% with duck, and 44.92-64.06% with mammalian IL-17B proteins. ChIL-17B shares three exons and two introns with mammals, turkey, and duck. Moreover, IL-17B mRNA was more highly expressed than IL-17A mRNA in several organs of chickens infected with Salmonella and was upregulated in chicken cell lines following LPS stimulation. In addition, in chicken cell lines, chIL-17B induced the mRNA expression of several proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6, LITAF, and INF-γ, but not IL-17A, and activated MyD88, TAK1, NF-κB1, and SOCS1, which are associated with the NF-κB signaling pathway. Taken together, chicken interleukin-17B plays a critical role in host defense against the bacterial pathogens, and regulates proinflammatory cytokines by activating the NF-κB signaling pathway.