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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

A BW Reporter System for Studying Receptor-Ligand Interactions
Published on: January 7, 2019
The IL-2/IL-2 receptor system: a target for rational immune intervention
1Metabolism Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
The expression of interleukin 2 (IL-2), induction of its multisubunit receptor and subsequent interplay of this ligand with its receptor are pivotal events in T-cell activation. Our present understanding of the normal IL-2/IL-2 receptor system, and of disorders in this network in disease, opens the possibility for more specific immune intervention. Thomas Waldmann discusses how the clinical application of IL-2, agents that inhibit IL-2 synthesis and action, and anti-IL-2 receptor-directed therapy provide a novel perspective for prevention of allograft rejection and for treatment of graft-versus-host disease, select autoimmune disorders and certain neoplastic diseases.
The expression of interleukin 2 (IL-2), induction of its multisubunit receptor and subsequent interplay of this ligand with its receptor are pivotal events in T-cell activation. Our present understanding of the normal IL-2/IL-2 receptor system, and of disorders in this network in disease, opens the possibility for more specific immune intervention. Thomas Waldmann discusses how the clinical application of IL-2, agents that inhibit IL-2 synthesis and action, and anti-IL-2 receptor-directed therapy provide a novel perspective for prevention of allograft rejection and for treatment of graft-versus-host disease, select autoimmune disorders and certain neoplastic diseases.
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