Binding characteristics of a monoclonal antibody against human IL-2 and its application for IL-2 measurement

A murine monoclonal antibody, obtained by immunization with human recombinant interleukin 2 (r-IL-2), is presented. The antibody, termed BO-7, recognizes r-IL-2 as well as natural human IL-2 from different sources. As deduced from binding studies with synthetic IL-2 derived peptides, the epitope reactive with the antibody is associated with amino-acid residues 59-72 of the intact IL-2 molecule. The application of the antibody as a specific reagent for the quantitation of IL-2 from crude supernatants including samples from lectin-stimulated mononuclear cells in a sandwich-type ELISA is presented.