University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth obtains United States patent.

University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (Fort Worth, TX) has patented natural killer (NK) cells possess the inherent capacity to kill various tumor and virally infected cells. A large family of NK cell receptors belongs to the C-type lectin super-family. Genes in the NK gene complex encode type II receptors and examples include the families of NKR-P1, Ly-49, and NKG2 receptors. Examples of other C-type lectin-like receptors that occur as individual genes are CD94, CD69 and AICL. The invention includes a cDNA that encodes a predicted protein of 191 amino acid residues having similarity to the carbohydrate recognition domain of C-type lectins. The predicted protein of LLT1 shows 59 and 56% similarity to AICL and CD69, respectively. A monoclonal antibody (L9.7) against LLT1 receptor was generated. Binding of mAb L9.7 to surface LLT1 induced interferon gamma production in YT, a human NK cell line, as well as in resting and IL-2 activated NK cells, without modulating cytotoxicity. (US 7,524,622)