Patent ID: 7514082

Claim:
An isolated virus suppressing factor (VSF) protein having the following properties: (a) it is increasingly produced in an immune cell stimulated by a variant of encephalomyocarditis virus, EMC-DV; (b) it has an antiviral activity which is unchanged by immunoprecipitation and immunoneutralization; (c) it is inactivated by proteinase K; (d) it is not one of the group of antiviral cytokines consisting of IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-8, IL-9, IL-10, IL-11, IL-12, IL-13, IL-14, IL-15, IL-16, IL-17, IL-18, G-CSF, GM-CSF, TNF-α, TNF-β, IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, TGF-β, RANTES, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, MIP-1γ, MCP-1, MCP-3, IP-10 and lymphotactin; (e) it comprises about 55 kDa polypeptide (H) having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, about 30 kDa polypeptides (L1 and L2) and about 25 kDa polypeptide (L3) having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4; (f) it has a molecular weight of over about 100 kDa; and (g) it is stable at 56° C. for about 40 minutes.