Streptavidin suppresses T cell activation and inhibits IL-2 production and CD25 expression

Kentaro Yomogida1, Yuan Chou, Jonathan Pang

  • 1Division of Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease, Oregon Health & Science University, OR, USA.

Cytokine
|March 14, 2012
PubMed

Streptavidin is widely used as a detection tool in biology research because of its high affinity and specificity binding to biotin. Biotin-streptavidin system has also been explored for detection of infection and tumor in clinical medicine. Here, we show immunosuppressive property of streptavidin on T cell activation and proliferation. Upon CD3 and CD28 stimulation, CD4(+) T cells produce interleukin 2 (IL-2) and express IL-2 receptor α chain (CD25). Addition of streptavidin in T cell culture suppressed IL-2 synthesis and CD25 expression with no cytotoxicity. The immunosuppressive effect of streptavidin was reversed by excessive biotin. Conjugated to a single chain anti-CD7 variable fragment (scFvCD7), streptavidin was directly delivered to T cells and showed substantially more profound suppressive effect on T cell activation. These results suggest that streptavidin could potentially be used as a novel immunomodulator.

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