FUSION MOLECULE AND IL-15 VARIANT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a soluble fusion protein complexes and IL- 15 variants, which have therapeutic and diagnostic use, and to provide methods for making such proteins.SOLUTION: A soluble fusion protein complex is specific for recognition of a particular antigen and comprises at least two soluble fusion proteins, wherein: the first fusion protein comprises (a) a polypeptide that is a first antibody or functional fragment thereof covalently linked to (b) interleukin-15 (IL-15) polypeptide or a functional fragment thereof; and the second fusion protein comprises (c) a polypeptide that is a second antibody or functional fragment thereof covalently linked to (d) soluble interleukin-15 receptor α-chain (IL-15Ra) polypeptide or a functional fragment thereof. An IL-15 domain of a first fusion protein binds to a soluble IL-15Ra domain of the second fusion protein.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1A