The Development of a Micro Assay for Natural Killer and Lymphokine-Activated Killer Activity and Its Use in Monitoring the Purification of an Interleukin-2 Inhibitor

The treatment of cancer is a constantly changing field and has recently expanded to include immunotherapy. One of the recent advances in cancer immunotherapy involves the infusion of lymphokine-activated killer LAK cells. The LAK cells are derived from the patients own lymphocytes which are incubated with interleukin-2 IL-2 for a few days. The IL-2 augments the cytotoxicity of a subpopulation of these lymphocytes, increasing their ability to kill tumor cells. As an adjunct to the LAK cells, interleukin-2 IL-2 is often administered intravenously to maintain the LAK cells enhanced cytotoxicity. Unfortunately, the high doses of IL-2 required for this LAK maintenance are often toxic to the patient. The purpose of this research was to partially purify the IL-2 inhibitor from normal mouse serum. The partially purified IL-2 inhibitor was used to induce antibody formation. The polyclonal antiserum was tested for its neutralizing capability and will be used to further purify and characterize the inhibitor. Keywords Chemotherapy Cancer.