ABSTRACT
The ability to direct targeted immunosuppression to those immune cells responsible for allograft rejection or for the development of autoimmune disease without producing a nonspecifically immunoincompetent host has been an elusive goal. The de novo acquisition of high-affinity membrane receptors for interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a critical event in the course of T-cell activation, and these receptors are thus of particular interest for immunosuppressive therapy. Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis is an autoimmune disease that can be experimentally induced in several animal species by immunization with a crude spinal cord homogenate or purified myelin basic protein. Effective transplantation immunosuppression should be obtainable using second-generation constructs with greater affinity for the IL-2 receptor, which can better compete with the levels of IL-2 normally associated with allografts. Chronic adjuvant arthritis is an autoimmune disease which can be induced in genetically susceptible rat strains by immunization with mycobacterial adjuvant.
