A soluble 'anchorminus' interleukin 2 receptor suppresses in vitro interleukin 2-mediated immune responses

The immunosuppressive effects of a recombinant soluble IL-2 receptor L chain (s-IL-2R) were analyzed. S-IL-2R protein was obtained from the conditioned medium of L cells transfected with a mutant cDNA clone encoding the extracytoplasmic portion of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) and was purified to homogeneity by an IL-2-coupled sepharose column, following by reverse phase chromatography (HPLC). Soluble IL-2R protein thus prepared retained the ability to bind IL-2 specifically and suppressed the in vitro IL-2-mediated immune responses, including proliferation of IL-2-dependent cell line (CTLL-2), induction of secondary cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), but did not suppress the growth of IL-3-dependent cell line. Kinetic studies revealed that s-IL-2R exhibited the suppressive effects on the proliferative responses of alloantigen stimulated human tonsillar cells, only when added at an early stage, namely 0-48 h after culture onset, whereas cyclosporin A (CsA) exhibited an inhibitory effect only when added at between 0 and 24 h. This implies that s-IL-2R exerts its effect on an early stage of lymphocyte activation. The observed immunosuppressive effects of s-IL-2R suggest the possibility that s-IL-2R might be useful for the protection of rejection crisis in organ transplantation.