The therapeutic efficacy of an anti-IL-2 receptor monoclonal antibody correlates with an increase in serum soluble IL-2 receptor levels.

We tested the capacity of three rat monoclonal antibodies (MoAb), recognizing different epitopes on the L chain of mouse interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R), to block delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and local graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR). Furthermore, we investigated the effect of IL-2R-targeted immunotherapy on serum soluble IL-2R levels by ELISA technique. Following administration of AMT-13 MoAb, in sufficient amounts to suppress both DTH (60-90% inhibition) and local GVHR (55-70% inhibition), an increase in soluble IL-2R levels up to 12-fold was observed. In contrast, the administration of 7D4 MoAb did not show any immunosuppressive effect in vivo and even decreased the soluble IL-2R levels. The third anti-IL-2R MoAb AMT45-20 had an intermediate effect. AMT45-20 MoAb marginally suppressed the DTH as well as local GVHR (15-35% inhibition) and induced only a slight increase in soluble IL-2R levels (up to 4-fold). Both cyclosporin A, a conventional immunosuppressive drug, and the anti-L3T4 MoAb, which defines the entire T helper cell subset, suppressed GVH and DTH response but did not increase the soluble IL-2R serum levels. The increased concentration of soluble IL-2R in the serum of successfully treated mice may be due to destruction of IL-2R-positive cells by anti-IL-2R-targeted immunotherapy and seems to be a sensitive indicator for the success of such a therapy.