Mitogenicity and down-regulation of high-affinity interleukin 2 receptor by YTA-1 and YTA-2, monoclonal antibodies that recognize 75-kDa molecules on human large granular lymphocytes.

A large number of interleukin 2 receptors lacking the Tac epitope (IL-2R/p75) were found to be constitutively expressed on the human large granular lymphocyte/natural killer cell line YT, which bears inducible IL-2R/p55 associated with Tac antigen. Two anti-YT IgG1 monoclonal antibodies, YTA-1 and YTA-2, recognizing different epitopes of the same 75- to 80-kDa molecule, were established. The 75-kDa antigen recognized by these monoclonal antibodies was strongly expressed on the large granular lymphocytes of normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells and on various lymphoid cell lines bearing IL-2R/p75. The YTA-1 and YTA-2 antibodies were mitogenic and were different from other mitogenic monoclonal antibodies such as anti-T3 (CD3), anti-T11 (CD2), and KOLT-2 (CD28). Further, they down-regulated the high-affinity IL-2R of peripheral blood mononuclear cells within 24 hr in culture. The relationship between the YTA-1/2 antigen and the IL-2R system is discussed.