Purification and characterization of cytotoxic lymphocyte maturation factor and monoclonal antibodies thereto

The present invention is a novel cytokine protein called IL-12 or Cytotoxic Lymphocyte Maturation Factor (CLMF) which is produced and synthesized by human NC-37 B lymphoblastoid cells (American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, Md.). CLMF synergistically induces with low concentrations of IL-2 the cytolytic activity of Lymphokine Activated Killer (LAK) cells, and CLMF is capable of stimulating T-cell growth.Also claimed are the cloned gene for CLMF, its recombination in a suitable vector, the transformed cells containing said vector, the recombinant protein produced by the transformed cells and antibodies to CLMF.