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Functional studies, using mainly interleukin 2 (IL2)-dependent growth of human T cell lines or clones but also mixed lymphocyte cultures and mitogen T cell activation, allowed a collection of locally produced anti-IL2 receptor monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to be classified. They fell into two groups: one with strong to moderate inhibition of IL2, the other without any detectable functional activity in in vitro assays. Direct and sequential immunoprecipitation as well as peptide mapping confirm that all the mAb recognize the same surface molecule. The parameters responsible for such functional dichotomy were characterized: the main parameter was found to be linked to the epitopic cluster recognized on the molecule by the mAb. All functional mAb pertained to a given epitopic cluster and all the nonfunctional ones to an alternative cluster. Studies on mAb receptor and IL2 receptor interactions confirmed these findings and strongly suggest that functional mAb interact with a region on the IL2 receptor identical or very close to the site of ligand-receptor interaction. These data could facilitate the choice of mAb to be used in therapeutical approaches in vivo when ethical objections could be overcome by appropriate committees.
Olive et al. (Wed,) studied this question.