Demonstration of biological activity of CD40 ligand (CD154) in the domestic cat.

The interaction between CD40L (CD154) on T cells and CD40 on antigen-presenting cells induces expression of accessory molecules that facilitate immune activation. Therefore, CD40L may have utility as an adjuvant for the development of potent antigen-specific immune responses following vaccination. As there was no information about the feline homologue of CD40L or its function, we generated stable cell lines expressing cDNAs encoding the feline CD40L homologue. As a preliminary to investigating the use of CD40L as an adjuvant for vaccination of the domestic cat, we tested the biological activity of the feline cytokine molecule in vitro. We demonstrated that cells expressing feline CD40L induced proliferation of feline peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and that purified B cells could be induced to proliferate in response to feline CD40L. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.