Patent ID: 7758853

Claim:
An isolated variant of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production inducing protein, also known as IGIF and IL-18, which IFN-γ production inducing protein has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, where the Xaa in SEQ ID NO:2 is Met or Thr, wherein said variant thereof has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 except that, (i) one or two amino acids in SEQ ID NO:2 are replaced with other amino acids, or (ii) one or more amino acids are added to the N- and/or C-terminus in the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, while retaining IFN-γ production inducing ability, said variant inducing IFN-γ production when administered to mouse and rat, exhibiting a single protein band when electrophoresed on sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and having a molecular weight of 19,000±5,000 daltons on gel filtration and SDS-PAGE.