ILT-2 (LIRl ) VARIANTS WITH INCREASED AFFINITY FOR MHC CLASS I MOLECULES

摘要

The present invention provides ILT-2 variants having the property of binding to a given Class IpMHC with a K<SUB>D</SUB> of less than or equal to lµM and/or an off-rate (K<SUB>off</SUB>) of 2 S<SUP>-1</SUP> or slower AND said polypeptide has at least a 45% identity and/or 55% similarity to SEQ ID NO: 19 AND said polypeptide inhibits CD8 binding to the given pMHC to a greater extent than the polypeptide SEQ ID NO: 3, CHARACTERISED IN THAT said polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from one of SEQ ID NOs 6 to 69. Such polypeptides are useful, either alone or associated with a therapeutic agent, for the inhibition of cyto-toxic T cell (CTL) responses.