Author: Mostbock, Sven

Source: Current Pharmaceutical Design, Volume 15, Number 7, March 2009 , pp. 809-825(17)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

In recent years, complexes formed from a cytokine and antibodies against that respective cytokine (cytokine/ Ab complex) have been shown to induce remarkable powerful changes in the immune system. Strong interest exists especially for complexes formed with Interleukin (IL)-2 and anti-IL-2-antibody (IL-2/Ab complex). IL-2/Ab complex activates maturation and proliferation in CD8+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells to a much higher degree than conventional IL-2 therapy. In addition, IL-2/Ab complex does not stimulate regulatory T cells as much as IL-2 alone. This suggests the possibility to replace the conventional IL-2 therapy with a therapy using low-dose IL-2/Ab complex. Further synthetic cytokine/Ab complexes are studied currently, including IL-3/Ab complex for its effects on the mast cell population, and IL-4/Ab complex and IL-7/Ab complex for inducing B and T cell expansion and maturation. Cytokine complexes can also be made from a cytokine and its soluble receptor. Pre-association of IL-15 with soluble IL-15 receptor α produces a complex with strong agonistic functions that lead to an expansion of CD8+ T cells and NK cells. However, cytokine/ Ab complexes also occur naturally in humans. A multitude of auto-antibodies to cytokines are found in human sera, and many of these auto-antibodies build cytokine/Ab complexes. This review presents naturally occurring autoantibodies to cytokines and cytokine/Ab complexes in health and disease. It further summarizes recent research on synthetic cytokine/Ab complexes with a focus on the basic mechanisms behind the function of cytokine/Ab complexes.

Keywords: Cytokine; antibody; complex; cytokine antibody complex; adjuvant; immunostimulant; T cell; NK cell

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161209787582174

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Immunology, University of Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.

Publication date: 2009-03-01

More about this publication?

• Current Pharmaceutical Design publishes timely in-depth reviews covering all aspects of current research in rational drug design. Each issue is devoted to a single major therapeutic area. A Guest Editor who is an acknowledged authority in a therapeutic field has solicits for each issue comprehensive and timely reviews from leading researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
  
  Each thematic issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design covers all subject areas of major importance to modern drug design, including: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug targets and disease mechanism.

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