[Cloning, expression and purification of interferon-kappa, a novel human interferon, and its antiviral activity].

Objective: To prepare human interferon-k (hIFN-kappa) and study its biological activities.

Methods: Whole length of hIFN-kappa's cDNA was cloned, and its sequence was chemically synthesized according to the optimized codons of E.coli, then was expressed in E.coli DH5alpha. After purified, the rhIFN-kappa protein was tested for its various kinds of biological activities.

Results: The purity of rhIFN-kappa was above 90%. In WHIS-VSV system, the antiviral activity of rhIFN-kappa was 2.0 x 10(6) IU/mg. Compared with rhIFN-alpha-2b, the biological activities of rhIFN-kappa were all feeble, including antiviral activity, promoting NK cell activity and anti-proliferation activity.

Conclusion: Antiviral activities of rhIFN-kappa on cell lines of different species are different, different viruses show different sensitivity to rhIFN-kappa.