Molecular cloning and characterization of canine ICOS.

Inducible costimulatory receptor (ICOS) is one recently identified member of the CD28 family of costimulatory molecules. Evidence suggests ICOS functions as a critical immune regulator and, to evaluate these effects, we employed the canine model system that has been used to develop strategies currently in clinical use for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. To investigate the effects of blocking the ICOS pathway in the canine hematopoietic cell transplantation model, we tested existing murine and human reagents and cloned the full length of the open reading frame of canine ICOS cDNA to allow the development of reagents specific for the canine ICOS. Canine ICOS contains a major open reading frame of 624 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 208 amino acids, and localizes to chromosome 37. Canine ICOS shares 79% sequence identity with human ICOS, 70% with mouse, and 69% with rat. Canine ICOS expression is limited to stimulated PBMC. Copyright 2004 Elsevier Inc.