CHUN-JEN LIUHuang Y.-J.HUEY-LING CHENLin H.-T.Lin H.-L.Kuo M.-L.Huang J.-L.DING-SHINN CHENPEI-JER CHENWu H.-L.2020-03-102020-03-1020091466-4879https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-59149092797&doi=10.1038%2fgene.2008.86&partnerID=40&md5=087e93069276e0e7644c837e43c38bbahttps://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/475145The eastern woodchuck, Marmota monax, represents a useful animal model to study hepatitis B virus infection in humans. However, immunological studies in this model have been impeded by a lack of basic information about the components of the immune system such as cytokines and chemokines. To clarify the role(s) of interleukin 8 (IL-8) in chronic hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the woodchuck model, we cloned and characterized the woodchuck IL-8 cDNA and genomic DNA. Sequence analysis revealed that the organization of the wk-IL-8 gene is similar to that of the human IL-8 gene and consists of four exons and three introns. Woodchuck IL-8 protein exhibits the conserved ELRCXC motif of IL-8 and shows 87, 82, 82 and 79% similarity with rabbit, ovine, bovine and human IL-8 proteins, respectively. The biological activity of wk-IL-8 was demonstrated using neutrophil chemotaxis assays. Wk-IL-8 could be readily detected in both tumor and non-tumor tissues with higher expression in the non-tumor tissues in most cases. The results from this study will facilitate the investigation of IL-8 in the immunopathogenesis of hepadnavirus-related diseases by the woodchuck model.[SDGs]SDG3interleukin 8; animal cell; animal tissue; article; chronic hepatitis; controlled study; DNA sequence; exon; gene expression; Hepadnavirus; hepatitis B; immunoprecipitation; intron; liver cell carcinoma; molecular cloning; neutrophil chemotaxis; nonhuman; nucleotide sequence; priority journal; protein function; protein motif; sequence analysis; woodchuck; Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Line; Cells, Cultured; Conserved Sequence; Disease Models, Animal; DNA, Complementary; DNA, Viral; Exons; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B Virus, Woodchuck; Hepatitis, Viral, Animal; Humans; Interleukin-8; Introns; Kidney; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental; Marmota; Molecular Sequence Data; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Viral Load; Animalia; Bovinae; Hepadnaviridae; Hepatitis B virus; Marmota monax; Oryctolagus cuniculus; Ovisjournal article10.1038/gene.2008.86189719382-s2.0-59149092797