Description:
Inflammation is one of the first, most important responses of the immune system when presented with infection and is mediated primarily by eicosanoids and cytokines. The goal of this research was to generate monoclonal antibodies against murine IL17C, a poorly characterized cytokine involved in inflammation and linked to inflammatory conditions. The antibodies generated were then screened for their ability to block the interaction between IL17Cm and its receptor, IL17RE, or to bind IL17Cm without blocking this interaction. Three sets of mice were immunized with IL17Cm and various immunomodulators and screened for antibody titer development. The mice numbered 18447-18550 were sacrificed and their secondary lymphoid organs were used for a hybridoma fusion. The supernatants of the viable, antibody-producing hybridomas were screened for neutralization and the cells were frozen. There were 12 samples from the fusion (#346) that were determined to produce anti-IL17Cm antibodies. Supernatant samples 1 and 9 showed potential neutralizing ability while 1, 11, 21, and 36 demonstrated activity characteristic of non-blocking antibodies. Purification of the supernatants by cloning and further confirmation screening must be done to validate these results; however, the antibodies produced look promising for future proof of concept studies and as assay reagents for further research into IL17C and its receptor.