Patent Abstract:
the various embodiments relate to peptide antagonists of γc - family cytokines , interleukin - 2 , interleukin - 4 , interleukin - 7 , interleukin - 9 , interleukin - 15 , and interleukin - 21 . the γc - cytokines are associated with important human diseases , such as leukemia , autoimmune diseases , collagen diseases , diabetes mellitus , skin diseases , degenerative neuronal diseases and graft - versus - host disease . thus , inhibitors of γc - cytokine activity are valuable therapeutic and cosmetic agents as well as research tools . traditional approaches to inhibiting γc - cytokine activity involve raising neutralizing antibodies against each individual γc - cytokine family member / receptor subunit . however , success has been limited and often multiple γc - cytokine family members co - operate to cause the disease state . combinatorial use of neutralizing antibodies raised against each factor is impractical and poses an increased risk of adverse immune reactions . the present embodiments overcome these shortcomings by utilizing peptide antagonists based on the consensus γc - subunit binding site to inhibit γc - cytokine activity . such approach allows for flexibility in antagonist design . in several embodiments , peptides exhibit simul - block activity , inhibiting the activity of multiple γc - cytokine family members .

Detailed Description:
the γc - cytokines are important players in the development of the lymphoid cells that constitute the immune system , particularly t , b , and nk cells . further , γc - cytokines have been implicated in various human diseases . thus , factors that inhibit γc - cytokine activity would provide useful tools to elucidate the developmental mechanism of subsets of lymphocytes and to treat immune disorders and γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . germ line depletion of the genes encoding the γc - subunit in mice or mutations of γc - subunit in humans are known to cause severe combine immunodeficiency ( scid ) by disrupting the normal appearance or function of nk , t , and b cells . the importance of the γc - subunit in the signal transduction of the γc - cytokines , il - 2 , - 4 , - 7 , - 9 , 15 , - 21 , is indicated in studies demonstrating the a of response of lymphocytes from these mice and human patients to the γc - cytokines ( reviewed in sugamura et al ., 1995 adv . immunol . 59 : 225 - 277 ). this indicates that disruption of the interaction between the γc - subunit and a γc - cytokine would efficiently block the intracellular signaling events by the γc - cytokine family members . therefore antagonist peptides according to the present embodiments are expected to effectively block the pathogenic changes in humans suffering from the diseases mediated by misregulation of the γc - cytokine family members . as an alternative to antibody - mediated approaches for modulating the activity of individual γc - cytokines , applicants have devised novel , low molecular weight compounds herein referred to as “ simul - block ”, which suppress the activity of multiple γc - cytokines . these low molecular weight compounds , which include both chemicals and peptides , are less immunogenic than antibodies . these properties distinguish simul - block as a more efficient strategy for mediating γc - cytokine activity in clinical interventions . the c - terminus ( the d - helix ) of the γc - cytokines contains the proposed site for interacting with the common γc - subunit of the multi - unit cytokine receptors . ( bernard et al ., 2004 j . biol . chem . 279 : 24313 - 21 .) comparison of the biochemical properties of the amino acids of all γc - cytokines identified in mice and humans revealed that the chemical nature of the amino acids , for example , hydrophobicity , hydrophilicity , base / acidic nature , are conserved , if not identical , at many positions in the d - helix across the members of the γc - cytokine family . in contrast , the sequence of il - 13 , which is related to the γc - cytokine , il - 4 , but does not bind to the γc - subunit , does not exhibit significant homology in the d - helix region to the γc - cytokines , suggesting that the sequence homology in the d - helix region is correlated with binding to the γc - subunit . as shown in fig1 , alignment of the amino acid sequences of the d - helix region of γc - cytokine family members in humans reveals a motif of moderate sequence homology in these cytokines referred to herein as “ the γc - box ”. the γc - box comprises 19 amino acids where out of the 19 positions , positions 4 , 5 , and 13 are fully conserved as phenylalanine , leucine , and asparagine , respectively . less conservation is observed at positions 6 , 7 and 11 of the γc - box where the amino acid is one of two or three related amino acids that share physico - chemical properties : position 6 may be occupied by the polar amino acids glutamate , asparagine or glutamine ; non - polar amino acids serine or arginine can occupy position 7 ; and position 11 is occupied by either of the non - polar aliphatic amino acids leucine or isoleucine . positions 9 and 16 may be occupied by the either the non - polar amino acid isoleucine or the polar amino acid lysine . see fig1 b . some differences in the amino acid composition of the γc - box are observed at positions 9 and 6 amongst subfamilies of the γc - cytokines . comparison of the γc - cytokines across species indicates that isoleucine is present at the 9 and 6 positions in the il - 2 / 15 subfamily , whereas the other γc - family members ( e . g ., il - 4 , il - 21 ) possess lysine in these positions . not wishing to be bound by a particular theory , isoleucine and lysine are biochemically different and thus may impart specific conformational differences between the il - 2 / 15 subfamily and other γc - cytokines . conservation of the γc - box motif between γc - cytokines is supported by findings that an asparagine ( asn , q ) residue located in the d - helix region is critical for the binding of the γc - cytokines to the γc - subunit . ( bernard et al ., 2004 j . biol . chem . 279 : 24313 - 21 .) the activity of γc - family cytokines may be blocked by disrupting the interaction between the γc - cytokine and the γc - subunit , for example by introducing a competitive inhibitor which can interact with the γc - subunit without stimulating signaling through the multi - subunit cytokine receptors . not to be bound by a particular theory , the conserved γc - box motif , which participates in binding of the γc - family cytokines to the γc - subunit , presents a core base amino acid sequence which can be utilized to design peptide inhibitors of γc - cytokine signaling . the core γc - box amino acid sequence comprises : d / e - f - l - e / q / n - s / r - x - i / k - x - l / i - x - q ( seq id no : 2 ) ( where x denotes any amino acid ). embodiments described herein relate to custom peptide derivatives of the core γc - box amino acid sequence which can inhibit the activity of one or more γc - cytokines . custom peptide derivatives include any peptide whose partial amino acid sequence shows approximately 50 %, 50 - 60 %, 60 - 70 %, 70 - 80 %, 80 %, 90 %, 95 %, 97 %, 98 %, 99 % or 99 . 8 % identity to the core γc - box amino acid sequence . custom peptide derivatives further include any peptide wherein a partial amino acid sequence of that peptide derivative comprises amino acids with similar physico - chemical properties to the amino acids of the core γc - box . for example , amino acids with similar physico - chemical properties would include phenylalanine , tyrosine , tryptophan , and histidine , which are aromatic amino acids . fig2 shows a diagrammed representation of amino acids with similar physico - chemical properties which may be may be substituted for the amino acids comprising the core γc - box . peptide derivatives of the core γc - box may be 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 - 30 , 30 - 35 , 35 - 40 , 40 - 45 , 45 - 50 , or more than 50 amino acids in length . in some embodiments , the custom peptide derivatives may be conjugated to the n - termini , c - termini and / or to the side residues of existing biological proteins / peptides . based on the identification of the conserved γc - box motif in cytokines which bind to the γc - subunit , applicants have devised a novel , 19 - mer custom derivative peptide which is an artificial composite peptide combining the amino acid sequence of the human il - 2 and il - 15 γc - box . the 19 - mer peptide , herein referred to as bnz - γ , consists of the amino acid sequence : i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ), where the amino acids depicted by bold characters are conserved between il - 2 and il - 15 and the underlined amino acids represent positions where the physico - chemical properties of the amino acids are conserved . applicants discovered that the 19 - mer bnz - γ , suppresses il - 15 and il - 19 induced cellular proliferation , but not il - 2 or il - 4 induced cellular proliferation . see fig3 a and example 2 . applicants further demonstrated that bnz - γ inhibits il - 15 mediated phosphorylation of the intracellular cytokine signal transduction molecule , stat - 5 . see fig3 c and example 5 . these results demonstrate that custom peptide derivatives of the conserved γc - box motif can inhibit the activity of multiple γc - cytokines . several embodiments relate to custom derivative peptides of the 19 - mer bnz - γ amino acid sequence , i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ), which can inhibit the activity of one or more γc - cytokines . custom peptide derivatives of the 19 - mer bnz - γ amino acid sequence include any peptide whose partial amino acid sequence shows approximately 50 %, 50 - 60 %, 60 - 70 %, 70 - 80 %, 80 %, 90 %, 95 %, 97 %, 98 %, 99 % or 99 . 8 % identity to amino acid sequence : i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ). custom peptide derivatives further include any peptide wherein a partial amino acid sequence of that peptide derivative comprises amino acids with similar physico - chemical properties to the amino acids of sequence : i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ). in several embodiments , the amino acid residues of the custom derivative peptides retain similar physico - chemical properties with the amino acid residues of bnz - γ , but exhibit different biological inhibition specificity to the 6 γc - cytokine family members from that of the original 19 - mer peptide . peptide derivatives of bnz - γ may be 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 - 30 , 30 - 35 , 35 - 40 , 40 - 45 , 45 - 50 , or more than 50 amino acids in length . in some embodiments , the custom peptide derivatives may be conjugated to the n - termini , c - termini and / or to the side residues of existing biological proteins / peptides . several embodiments relate to custom peptide derivatives of the γc - box motifs of il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , or il - 7 , which are depicted in fig1 a . other embodiments relate to custom derivative peptides which are artificial composite peptides combining the amino acid sequence of two or more of the human il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , and il - 7 γc - box motifs . several embodiments relate to custom peptide derivatives of the of the γc - box motifs of il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , or il - 7 having a partial amino acid sequence that shows approximately 50 %, 50 - 60 %, 60 - 70 %, 70 - 80 %, 80 %, 90 %, 95 %, 97 %, 98 %, 99 % or 99 . 8 % identity to amino acid sequences of the of the γc - box motifs of il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , or il - 7 . custom peptide derivatives of the of the γc - box motifs of il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , or il - 7 further include any peptide wherein a partial amino acid sequence of that peptide derivative comprises amino acids with similar physico - chemical properties to the amino acids of sequence of the γc - box motifs of il - 5 , il - 2 , il - 21 , il - 4 , il - 9 , or il - 7 . several embodiments relate to custom peptide derivatives that would inhibit the function of one , all , or selective members of the γc - cytokines . in some embodiments , the custom peptide derivatives selectively target individual γc - cytokine family members . for example , a custom peptide derivative can selectively inhibit the function of il - 2 , il - 4 , il - 7 , il - 9 , il - 15 , or il - 21 . in other embodiments , a custom peptide derivative can inhibit 2 or more γc - cytokine family members . for example , the custom peptide derivatives of the present embodiments can selectively inhibit the function of il - 2 in combination with one or more of il - 4 , il - 7 , il - 9 , il - 15 , and il - 21 ; il - 4 in combination with one or more of il - 7 , il - 9 , il - 15 , and il - 21 ; il - 7 in combination with one or more of il - 9 , il - 15 , and il - 21 ; il - 9 in combination with one or more of il - 2 , il - 4 , il - 7 , il - 15 , and il - 21 ; il - 15 in combination with one or more of il - 2 , il - 4 , il - 7 , il - 9 , and il - 21 ; or il - 21 in combination with one or more of il - 2 , il - 4 , il - 7 , il - 9 , and il - 15 . in other embodiments , custom peptide derivatives can comprehensively target all γc - cytokine family members . not wishing to be bound by a particular theory , the custom peptide derivatives can inhibit the function of all or selective members of the γc - cytokines by diminishing the binding of γc - cytokines to the γc - subunit , for example , as a competitive inhibitor . such custom peptide derivatives may be used in diverse applications , including as a clinical drug . the terms “ oligopeptide ,” “ polypeptide ,” “ peptide ,” and “ protein ” can be used interchangeably when referring to the custom peptide derivatives provided in accordance with the present embodiments and can be used to designate a series of amino acid residues of any length . peptides according to the present embodiments may also contain non - natural amino acids . linker elements can be joined to the peptides of the present embodiments through peptide bonds or via chemical bonds . the peptides of the present embodiments may be linear or cyclic , and may include ( d ) as well as ( l ) amino acids . peptides of the present embodiments may also contain one or more rare amino acids ( such as 4 - hydroxyproline or hydroxylysine ), organic acids or amides and / or derivatives of common amino acids , such as amino acids having the c - terminal carboxylate esterified ( e . g ., benzyl , methyl or ethyl ester ) or amidated and / or having modifications of the n - terminal amino group ( e . g ., acetylation or alkoxycarbonylamino ), with or without any of a wide variety of side chain modifications and / or substitutions ( e . g ., methylation , benzylation , t - butylation , tosylation , alkoxycarbonylamino , and the like ). residues other than common amino acids that may be present include , but are not limited to , penicillamine , tetramethylene cysteine , pentamethylene cysteine , mercaptopropionic acid , pentamethylene - mercaptopropionic acid , 2 - mercaptobenzene , 2 - mercaptoaniline , 2 - mercaptoproline , ornithine , diaminobutyric acid , aminoadipic acid , m - aminomethylbenzoic acid , and diaminopropionic acid . peptides of the present embodiments can be produced and obtained by various methods known to those skilled in the art . for example , the peptide may be produced by genetic engineering , based on the nucleotide sequence coding for the peptide of the present embodiments , or chemically synthesized by means of peptide solid - phase synthesis and the like , or produced and obtained in their combination . one skilled in the art can synthesize the custom peptide derivatives based on the present disclosure of the conserved γc - box motif and knowledge of the biochemical properties of amino acids as described in fig2 . some embodiments also relate to polynucleotides comprising nucleotide sequences encoding the peptides of the present invention . “ nucleotide sequence ,” “ polynucleotide ,” or “ nucleic acid ” can be used interchangeably , and are understood to mean either double - stranded dna , a single - stranded dna or products of transcription of the said dnas ( e . g ., rna molecules ). polynucleotides can be administered to cells or subjects and expressed by the cells or subjects , rather than administering the peptides themselves . several embodiments also relate to genetic constructs comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding the peptides of the present invention . genetic constructs can also contain additional regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers and , optionally , selectable markers . several embodiments relate to the use of γc - antagonist peptides in the treatment of γc - cytokine mediated diseases . use of custom peptide derivative according to the present embodiments allows for flexibility in the design of the therapeutic agent ( custom design of the peptide ) and enables more comprehensive outcomes , which would not be accomplished by conventional strategies employing anti - cytokine or anti - cytokine receptor antibodies . described herein is a novel method of blocking the action of γc - family cytokines . such manipulations can yield effective methods of clinical interventions in treating diseases related to the dysregulation or dysfunction of γc - cytokines . examples of disease that may be treated by disrupting the interaction between the γc - cytokine and the γc - subunit include autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosis , sjoegren &# 39 ; s syndrome , wegener &# 39 ; s granulomatosis celiac disease , hashimoto &# 39 ; s or auto - immune thyroiditis ; collagen diseases including rheumatoid arthritis , inflammatory bowel disease , diabetes mellitus , autoimmune diseases of the skin such as psoriasis ; degenerative neuronal diseases such as multiple sclerosis , uvietis or inflammation of the eye and sympathetic ophthalmia , graft - versus - host disease ( gvhd ) and myasthenia gravis . in some embodiments , the γc - antagonist peptides described herein may be used in the treatment of 1 - human t - cell lymphotropic type i and ii ( htlv - i and htlv - ii )- associated diseases including adult t - cell leukemia ( atl ), htlv - associated myelopathy / tropical spastic paraparesis ( ham / tsp ), and other non - neoplastic inflammatory diseases associated with htlv such as uveitis ( hu ), arthropathy , pneumopathy , dermatitis , exocrinopathy and myositis . in some embodiments , the γc - antagonist peptides described herein may be used in the treatment of other viral diseases such as influenza , aids , hbv and herpes or parasitic diseases . in several embodiments , the γc - antagonist peptides may be administered before , during , and or after transplantation of various organs as an immunosuppressant agent . in some embodiments , the γc - antagonist peptides described herein may be used in the treatment of immune - mediated diseases such as asthma and other inflammatory respiratory diseases , such as , but not limited to sinusitis , hay fever , bronchitis , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ), allergic rhinitis , acute and chronic otitis , lung fibrosis . in some embodiments , γc - antagonist peptides may be administered to treat or prevent allergic reactions due to exposure to allergens , chemical agents or other common causes of acute respiratory disease . in some embodiments , γc - antagonist peptides may be administered to treat or prevent inflammatory responses caused by viruses , bacteria , chemical reagents , and biochemical reagents . in several embodiments , the γc - antagonist peptides may be administered to treat some types of malignancies such as lgl - leukemia , intraepithelial lymphoma and leukemia in refractory celiac disease , nk leukemia / lymphoma and nk - t leukemia / lymphoma in some embodiments , custom peptide derivatives according to the embodiments described herein can be used for cosmetic purposes , such as the treatment of acne , hair loss , sunburn and nail maintenance , included to ointment as anti - aging component because of the anti - inflammatory nature of them . several embodiments relate to therapeutic antagonist peptides that would inhibit the function of all or selective members of the γc - cytokines . in some embodiments , therapeutic antagonist peptides selectively inhibit individual γc - cytokine family members ( custom peptides ). in other embodiments , therapeutic antagonist peptides can comprehensively inhibit all γc - cytokine family members ( simul - block ). in some embodiments , therapeutic antagonist peptides selectively inhibit subsets of the γc - cytokines . not wishing to be bound by a particular theory , the peptide antagonists can inhibit the function of all or selective members of the γc - cytokines by diminishing the binding of γc - cytokines to the γc - subunit , for example , as a competitive inhibitor . several members of the γc - cytokine family , il - 2 , il - 7 , and il - 15 , but not il - 4 have been implicated as being involved in graft versus host disease ( gvhd ) in an experimental mouse model . ( miyagawa et al ., 2008 j . immunol . 181 : 1109 - 19 .) one embodiment relates to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 2 , il - 7 , and il - 15 activity for the treatment of gvhd in humans , allowing survival of the grafted tissues or bone marrow cells . other embodiments relate to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit a combination of il - 2 and il - 7 , il - 2 , and il - 15 , or il - 7 and il - 15 to treat gvhd . other embodiments relate to the use of a combination of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 2 , il - 7 , or il - 15 . some embodiments relate to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 2 function for the treatment of autoimmune disorders where t - regs have been implicated as playing a role . in some embodiments , peptide - mediated inhibition of t - regs can enhance the natural anti - cancer immunity in humans , providing a novel means of anti - cancer therapy . several embodiments relate to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 4 to treat asthma . some embodiments relate to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 7 either alone or in combination with therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit the γc - cytokine family member , il - 15 , as a therapeutic agent for lgl leukemia . in some embodiments therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit both il - 7 and il - 15 activity can be used to treat lgl leukemia . several embodiments relate to the use of bnz - γ to treat lgl leukemia . in some embodiments , specific γc - antagonist peptides that selectively il - 15 alone or specific yc - antagonist peptides that selectively il - 15 and il - 7 are used as a therapeutic agent for cd4 / cd8 t lymphocyte - associated leukemia including that caused by the htlv - i . several embodiments relate to the use of yc - antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit the activity of il - 9 , either alone or in combination with the other γc - cytokine family members , as a therapeutic agent for human diseases that involve the abnormal development of th17 cells . several embodiments relate to the use of therapeutic antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit il - 15 activity as a therapeutic agent for treating cd . one recent publication suggested that il - 21 , in addition to il - 15 , may play a role in cd pathogenesis . ( see bodd et al ., 2010 , mucosal immunol . 3 : 594 - 601 .) this suggests that optimum treatment of cd by conventional anti - cytokine or cytokine - receptor antibodies would benefit from a combination of at least two antibodies recognizing component that belong to the il - 15 and il - 21 systems . in some embodiments , custom derivative antagonist peptides that selectively inhibit both il - 15 and il - 21 activity are used as a therapeutic agent for treating cd . in addition to having therapeutic applications , yc - antagonist peptides have applications in consumer products as well . several embodiments relate to the use of yc - antagonist peptides in skin care products such as anti - aging , anti - inflammatory , anti - acne , and other related applications . some embodiments relate to the use of yc - antagonist peptides in hair products as anti - hair loss ingredient to treat hair loss caused by autoimmune disorders . another embodiment relates to the development of chemical compounds ( non - peptide , non - protein ) that have a spatial structure which resembles the 19 - mer amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) and can fit into the pocket of the γc - subunit to structurally hinder the access of a γc - cytokine to the γc - subunit for binding . some embodiments relate to the use of structurally similar chemical compounds as inhibitors of γc - cytokine activity . such molecular mimicry strategy to further refine the development of synthetic compounds resembling in structure to existing biological peptide / proteins is described in orzaez et al ., 2009 chem . med . chem . 4 : 146 - 160 . another embodiment relates to administration of chemical compounds ( non - peptide , non - protein ) that have a resembling 3d structure as the 19 - mer amino acids sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . several embodiments relates to the administration of a peptide of amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . another embodiment relates to the administration of derivative peptides of amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ), wherein the amino acid sequence of the derivative peptide has similar physico - chemical properties as a peptide of the amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ), but has distinct biological activity , to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . another embodiment relates to administration of a peptide of amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) conjugated to the n - and c - termini or to the side residues of existing biological proteins / peptides into patients to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . several embodiments relate to administration of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies raised against a peptide comprising of amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - 1 - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) into patients as an immunogen to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . another embodiment relates to administration of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies that were raised against derivative peptides of amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ) wherein the amino acid sequence of the derivative peptide has similar physico - chemical properties as a peptide of the amino acid sequence i - k - e - f - l - q - r - f - i - h - i - v - q - s - i - i - n - t - s ( seq id no : 1 ), but has distinct biological activity , into patients as an immunogen to treat γc - cytokine - mediated diseases . the present embodiments also encompass the use of γc - antagonist peptides for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of a disease . the present embodiments also encompass a pharmaceutical composition that includes γc - antagonist peptides in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . the pharmaceutical composition can include a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and a non - toxic therapeutically effective amount of ye - antagonist peptides , or other compositions of the present embodiments . the present embodiments provide methods of using pharmaceutical compositions comprising an effective amount of antagonists for γc - cytokines in a suitable diluent or carrier . a γc - antagonist of the present embodiments can be formulated according to known methods used to prepare pharmaceutically useful compositions . a γc - antagonist can be combined in admixture , either as the sole active material or with other known active materials , with pharmaceutically suitable diluents ( e . g ., phosphate , acetate , tris - hcl ), preservatives ( e . g ., thimerosal , benzyl alcohol , parabens ), emulsifying compounds , solubilizers , adjuvants , and / or carriers such as bovine serum albumin . suitable carriers and their formulations are described in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 16 th ed . 1980 mack publishing co . additionally , such compositions can contain a γc - antagonist complexed with polyethylene glycol ( peg ), metal ions , or incorporated into polymeric compounds such as polyacetic acid , polyglycolic acid , hydrogels etc ., or incorporated into liposomes , microemulsions , micelles , unilamellar or multilamellar vesicles , erythrocyte ghosts , or spheroblasts . such compositions will influence the physical state , solubility , stability , rate of in vivo release , and rate of in vivo clearance or a γc - antagonist . a ye - antagonist can be conjugated to antibodies against cell - specific antigens , receptors , ligands , or coupled to ligands for tissue - specific receptors . methods of administrating γc - antagonists of the present embodiments may be selected as appropriate , depending on factors , such as the type of diseases , the condition of subjects , and / or the site to be targeted . the γc - antagonists can be administered topically , orally , parenterally , rectally , or by inhalation . the term “ parenteral ” includes subcutaneous injections , intravenous , intramuscular , intraperitoneal , intracisternal injection , or infusion techniques . these compositions will typically include an effective amount of a γc - antagonist , alone or in combination with an effective amount of any other active material . the amount of the peptide contained in pharmaceutical compositions of the present embodiments , dosage form of the pharmaceutical compositions , frequency of administration , and the like may be selected as appropriate , depending on factors , such as the type of diseases , the condition of subjects , and / or the site to be targeted . such dosages and desired drug concentrations contained in the compositions may vary affected by many parameters , including the intended use , patient &# 39 ; s body weight and age , and the route of administration . pilot studies will first be conducted using animal studies and the scaling to human administration will be performed according to art - accepted practice . in one embodiment , host cells that have been genetically modified with a polynucleotide encoding at least one γc - antagonist peptide are administered to a subject to treat a proliferation disorder and / or to reduce the growth of malignant cells . the polynucleotide is expressed by the host cells , thereby producing the peptides within the subject . preferably , the host cells are allogeneic or autogeneic to the subject . in a further aspect , yc - antagonist peptides can be used in combination with other therapies , for example , therapies inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and growth . the phrase “ combination therapy ” embraces the administration of yc - antagonist peptides and an additional therapeutic agent as part of a specific treatment regimen intended to provide a beneficial effect from the co - action of these therapeutic agents . administration of these therapeutic agents in combination typically is carried out over a defined time period ( usually minutes , hours , days or weeks depending upon the combination selected ). a combination therapy is intended to embrace administration of these therapeutic agents in a sequential manner , that is , wherein each therapeutic agent is administered at a different time , as well as administration of these therapeutic agents , or at least two of the therapeutic agents , in a substantially simultaneous manner . substantially simultaneous administration can be accomplished , for example , by administering to the subject a single capsule having a fixed ratio of each therapeutic agent or in multiple , single capsules for each of the therapeutic agents . sequential or substantially simultaneous administration of each therapeutic agent can be effected by an appropriate route including , but not limited to , oral routes , intravenous routes , intramuscular routes , and direct absorption through mucous membrane tissues . there therapeutic agents can be administered by the same route or by different routes . the sequence in which the therapeutic agents are administered is not narrowly critical . combination therapy also can embrace the administration of the therapeutic agents as described above in further combination with other biologically active ingredients ( such as , but not limited to , a second and different therapeutic agent ) and non - drug therapies ( such as , but not limited to , surgery or radiation treatment ). where the combination therapy further comprises radiation treatment , the radiation treatment may be conducted at any suitable time so long as a beneficial effect from the co - action of the combination of the therapeutic agents and radiation treatment is achieved . for example , in appropriate cases , the beneficial effect is still achieved when the radiation treatment is temporarily removed from the administration of the therapeutic agents , perhaps by days or even weeks . in certain embodiments , yc - antagonist peptides can be administered in combination with at least one anti - proliferative agent selected from the group consisting of chemotherapeutic agent , an antimetabolite , and antitumorgenic agent , and antimitotic agent , and antiviral agent , and antineoplastic agent , an immunotherapeutic agent , and a radiotherapeutic agent . in certain embodiments , yc - antagonist peptides can be administered in combination with at least one anti - inflammatory agent selected from the group consisting of steroids , corticosteroids , and nonsteroidal anti - inflammatory drugs . also provided are kits for performing any of the above methods . kits may include a yc - antagonist according to the present embodiments . in some embodiments , the kit may include instructions . instructions may be in written or pictograph form , or may be on recorded media including audio tape , audio cd , video tape , dvd , cd - rom , or the like . the kits may comprise packaging . as used herein , the term “ patient ” refers to the recipient of a therapeutic treatment and includes all organisms within the kingdom animalia . in preferred embodiments , the animal is within the family of mammals , such as humans , bovine , ovine , porcine , feline , buffalo , canine , goat , equine , donkey , deer , and primates . the most preferred animal is human . as used herein , the term “ treat ” or any variation thereof ( e . g ., treatment , treating , etc . ), refers to any treatment of a patient diagnosed with a biological condition , such as cd4 -, cd8 -, and lgl - leukemia , an autoimmune disease , systemic lupus erythematosis , sjoegren &# 39 ; s syndrome , wegener &# 39 ; s granulomatosis , celiac disease , hashimoto &# 39 ; s thyroiditis , a collagen disease , rheumatoid arthritis , inflammatory bowel disease , diabetes mellitus , psoriasis , a degenerative neuronal disease , multiple sclerosis , uvietis , inflammation of the eye , graft - versus - host disease ( gvhd ), myasthenia gravis , 1 - human t - cell lymphotropic type i and ii ( htlv - i and htlv - ii )- associated diseases , adult t - cell leukemia ( atl ), htlv - associated myelopathy / tropical spastic paraparesis ( ham / tsp ), uveitis ( hu ), arthropathy , pneumopathy , dermatitis , exocrinopathy , myositis , influenza , aids , hbv , herpes , asthma , sinusitis , hay fever , bronchitis , chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( copd ), allergic rhinitis , acute and chronic otitis , lung fibrosis , nk leukemia / lymphoma and nk - t leukemia / lymphoma . the term treat , as used herein , includes : ( i ) preventing or delaying the presentation of symptoms associated with the biological condition of interest in an at - risk patient who has yet to display symptoms associated with the biological condition ; ( ii ) ameliorating the symptoms associated with the biological condition of interest in a patient diagnosed with the biological condition ; ( iii ) preventing , delaying , or ameliorating the presentation of symptoms associated with complications , conditions , or diseases associated with the biological condition of interest in either an at - risk patient or a patient diagnosed with the biological condition ; ( iv ) slowing , delaying or halting the progression of the biological condition ; and / or ( v ) preventing , delaying , slowing , halting or ameliorating the cellular events of inflammation . the term “ symptom ( s )” as used herein , refers to common signs or indications that a patient is suffering from a specific condition or disease . the term “ effective amount ,” as used herein , refers to the amount necessary to elicit the desired biological response . in accordance with the present embodiments , an effective amount of a yc - antagonist is the amount necessary to provide an observable effect in at least one biological factor for use in treating a biological condition . “ recombinant dna technology ” or “ recombinant ” refers to the use of techniques and processes for producing specific polypeptides from microbial ( e . g ., bacterial , yeast ), invertebrate ( insect ), mammalian cells or organisms ( e . g ., transgenic animals or plants ) that have been transformed or transfected with cloned or synthetic dna sequences to enable biosynthesis of heterologous peptides . native glycosylation pattern will only be achieved with mammalian cell expression system . prokaryotic expression systems lack the ability to add glycosylation to the synthesized proteins . yeast and insect cells provide a unique glycosylation pattern that may be different from the native pattern . a “ nucleotide sequence ” refers to a polynucleotide in the form of a separate fragment or as a component of a larger dna construct that has been derived from dna or rna isolated at least once in substantially pure form , free of contaminating endogenous materials and in a quantity or concentration enabling identification , manipulation , and recovery of its component nucleotide sequences by standard molecular biology methods ( as outlined in current protocols in molecular biology ). “ recombinant expression vector ” refers to a plasmid comprising a transcriptional unit containing an assembly of ( 1 ) a genetic element or elements that have a regulatory role in gene expression including promoters and enhances , ( 2 ) a structure or coding sequence that encodes the polypeptide according to the present embodiments , and ( 3 ) appropriate transcription and translation initiation sequence and , if desired , termination sequences . structural elements intended for use in yeast and mammalian system preferably include a signal sequence enabling extracellular secretion of translated polypeptides by yeast or mammalian host cells . “ recombinant microbial expression system ” refers to a substantially homogenous monoculture of suitable hot microorganisms , for example , bacteria such as e . coli , or yeast such as s . cerevisiae , that have stably integrated a recombinant transcriptional unit into chromosomal dna or carry the recombinant transcriptional unit as a component of a residual plasmid . generally , host cells constituting a recombinant microbial expression system are the progeny of a single ancestral transformed cell . recombinant microbial expression systems will express heterologous polypeptides upon induction of the regulatory elements linked to a structural nucleotide sequence to be expressed . the following examples are presented for the purposes of illustration and should not be construed as limitations . the capacity of any custom derivative peptide prepared according to the present embodiments for inhibiting the action of one γc - cytokine family member is determined using mammalian cellular assays to measure their proliferative response to the γc - cytokine family member . for each of the six γc - cytokines , indicator cell lines : ctll - 2 , a murine cd8 t cells line available from american type culture collection , and pt - 18 , a murine mast cell line and its subclone pt - 18β , is transfected with human il - 2rβ gene to make the cells responsive to il - 2 and il - 15 ( tagaya et al ., 1996 , embo j . 15 : 4928 - 39 ), and is used to quantitatively determine the γc - cytokine &# 39 ; s growth - promoting activity ( see current protocols in immunology from wiley and sons for a methodological reference ). the indicator cells demonstrate semi - linear dose - dependent response when measured by a colorimetric wst - 1 assay over a range of concentrations ( see clontech pt3946 - 1 and associated user manual , incorporated herein by reference , for a detailed description of the reagents and methods ). once the appropriate doses of the cytokine that yield the 50 % and 95 % maximum response from the indicator cell line is determined , various concentrations ( ranging from 1 μm to 10 μm ) of the purified or synthesized custom derivative peptide is added to each well containing the cytokine and indicator cells . the reduction in light absorbance at 450 nm is used as an indicator of inhibition of cytokine - stimulated cellular proliferation . typically , the cells are stimulated by the cytokines such that the absorbance of the well containing indicator cell line and the cytokine is between 2 . 0 and 3 . 0 , which is reduced to a range of 0 . 1 to 0 . 5 by the addition of inhibitory peptides . bnz - γ peptide specifically inhibits the growth - promoting activities of il - 9 and il - 15 using pt - 18β cells as described above , the ability of the bnz - γ peptide to specifically inhibit the growth - promoting activity of select γc - cytokines was determined ( fig3 a ). il - 3 , a non - γc - cytokine that supports the growth of pt - 18β cells , was used as a negative control . briefly , pt - 1813 cells were incubated either with two different dilutions of bnz - γ peptide produced by hek293t cells ( 1 : 20 or 1 : 50 dilution of the original supernatant of hek293t cells transfected with a bnz - γ expression construct ) or without bnz - γ peptide in the presence of il - 3 , il - 9 , il - 15 , or il - 4 ( 1 nm of each cytokine in the culture ). the growth - responses of the cells were determined 2 days after the introduction of bnz - γ peptide and the cytokine using the wst - 1 assay . the growth - promoting activity of il - 3 ( a non γc - cytokine ) was not inhibited by bnz - γ . in contrast , the activity of il - 15 and il - 9 were significantly ( p & lt ; 0 . 01 student &# 39 ; s t test ) reduced by the bnz - γ peptide . cellular proliferation stimulated by il - 4 , another γc - cytokine , was not affected by the by the addition of bnz - γ peptide . results for il - 3 , il - 9 , il - 15 , and il - 4 are shown at fig3 a . in a similar assay , the murine cell line cttl2 was used . in this assay the cells were cultured with 0 . 5 nm of recombinant il - 2 in rpmi 10 % fetal calf serum . to set up the proliferation assay , cells were washed from the cytokines 3 times . cells were seeded at 1 × 10 ( 5 ) cells per well of a 96 - well plate with final concentration of 50 μm of il - 2 or il - 15 . various concentration of bnz - γ peptide ( 0 . 1 , 1 , and 10 ug / ml ) was added to each well . cells were cultured for 20 hours and in the last 4 hours , 3 h - thymidine was added to the plates . cells were harvested using a plate reader . the data is shown in fig3 b . method for measuring inhibition γc - cytokine activity by assaying 3h - thymidine incorporation of as a marker of cellular proliferation inhibition of γc - cytokine - induced proliferation of an indicator cell population by antagonist custom derivative peptides is measured by the 3h - thymidine incorporation assay . briefly , radiolabeled thymidine ( 1 microci ) is given to 20 - 50 , 000 cells undergoing proliferation in the presence of cytokines . the cell - incorporated radioactivity is measured by trapping cell - bound radioactivity to a glass - fiber filter using a conventional harvester machines ( example , filtermate universal harvester from perkin - elmer ), after which the radioactivity is measured using a b - counter ( example 1450 , trilux microplate scintillation counter ). method for measuring inhibition γc - cytokine activity by assaying incorporation of a cell - tracker dye as a marker of cellular proliferation indicator cells are incubated in the presence of a selected γc - cytokine or in the presence of a selected γc - cytokine and a selected custom derivative peptide . the cell population is then labeled in vitro using a cell - tracker dye , for example , cmfda , c2925 from invitrogen , and the decay of cellular green fluorescence at each cellular division is monitored using a flow - cytometer ( for example , beckton - dickinson facscalibur ). typically , in response to γc - cytokine stimulation 7 - 10 different peaks corresponding to the number of divisions that the cells have undergone will appear on the green fluorescence channel . incubation of the cells with the selected γc - cytokine and antagonist custom derivative peptide reduces the number of peaks to only 1 to 3 , depending on the degree of the inhibition . in addition to stimulating cellular proliferation , binding of the γc - cytokines to their receptors causes a diverse array of intracellular events . ( rochman et al . 2009 nat . rev . immunol . 9 : 480 - 90 , pesu et al . 2005 immunol . rev . 203 : 127 - 142 .) immediately after the cytokine binds to its receptor , a tyrosine kinase called jak3 ( janus - kinase 3 ) is recruited to the receptor at the plasma membrane . this kinase phosphorylates the tyrosine residues of multiple proteins including the γc - subunit , stat5 ( signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 ) and subunits of the pi3 ( phosphatidylinositol 3 ) kinase . among these , the phosphorylation of stat5 has been implicated in many studies as being linked to the proliferation of cells initiated by the γc - cytokine . ( reviewed in hennighausen and robinson , 2008 genes dev . 22 : 711 - 21 .) in accordance with these published data , whether or not the bnz - γ peptide inhibits the tyrosine phosphorylation of stat5 molecule in pt - 18β cells stimulated by il - 15 was examined ( results shown in fig3 c ). pt - 18β cells were stimulated by il - 15 in the presence or absence of bnz - γ peptide . cytoplasmic proteins were extracted from the cells according to a conventional method as described in tagaya et al . 1996 embo j . 15 : 4928 - 39 . the extracted cytoplasmic proteins were resolved using a standard sds - page ( sodium dodecyl - sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ) and the phorphorylation status was confirmed by an anti - phospho - stat5 antibody ( cell signaling technology , catalog # 9354 , danvers mass .) using immunoblotting ( see fig3 c , top panel ). to confirm that each lane represented a similar total protein load , the membrane was then stripped , and re - probed with an anti - stat5 antibody ( cell signaling technology , catalog # 9358 ) ( see fig3 c , bottom panel ). these results demonstrated that tyrosine phosphorylation of stat5 , a marker of signal transduction , was induced by il - 15 in pt - 18β cells , and tyrosine phosphorylation of stat5 was markedly reduced by the bnz - γ peptide . derivative peptides are prepared based from the core sequence d / e - f - l - e / q / n - s / r - x - i / k - x - l / i - x - q ( seq id no : 2 ) ( where x denotes any amino acid ) by substituting the defined amino acids of the core sequence with amino acids having identical physico - chemical properties as designated in fig2 . the γc - cytokine inhibitory specificity of antagonistic custom derivative peptides is determined by assaying the ability of a custom derivative peptide to inhibit the proliferative response of a cytokine - responsive cell line to each of the 6 γc - cytokines . for example , a mouse cell line , ctll - 2 , is used to determine if a candidate peptide inhibits the function of il - 2 and il - 15 . pt - 18 ( β ) cells are used to determine if a candidate peptide inhibits the function of il - 4 and il - 9 . pt - 18 ( 7α ) cells are used to determine if a candidate peptide inhibits the function of il - 7 , and pt - 18 ( 21α ) cells are used to determine if a candidate peptide inhibits the function of il - 21 . pt - 18 ( β ) denotes a subclone of pt - 18 cells that exogenously express human il - 2rβ by gene transfection ( see tagaya et al . 1996 ), pt - 18 ( 7α ) denotes a subclone that expresses human il - 7rα by gene transfection and pt - 18 ( 21rα ) cells express human il - 21ra . another alternative is to use other cell lines that respond to an array of cytokines . an example of this cell line in a human nk cell line nk92 that is commercially available by atcc ( catalog # crl - 2407 ). this cell line is an il - 2 dependent cell line that responds to other cytokines including il - 9 , il - 7 , il - 15 , il - 12 , il - 18 , il - 21 ( gong et al . 1994 leukemia 8 : 652 - 658 , kingemann et al ., 1996 , biol blood marrow transplant 2 : 68 ; 75 , hodge d l et al ., 2002 j . immunol . 168 : 9090 - 8 ) custom derivative γc - antagonist peptides are synthesized chemically by manual and automated processes . manual synthesis : classical liquid - phase synthesis is employed , which involves coupling the carboxyl group or c - terminus of one amino acid to the amino group or n - terminus of another . alternatively , solid - phase peptide synthesis ( spps ) is utilized . automated synthesis : many commercial companies provide automated peptide synthesis for a cost . these companies use various commercial peptide synthesizers , including synthesizers provided by applied biosystems ( abi ). custom derivative γc - antagonist peptides are synthesized by automated peptide synthesizers . a custom derivative γc - antagonist peptides is synthesized biologically as a pro - peptide that consists of an appropriate tagging peptide , a signal peptide , or a peptide derived from a known human protein that enhances or stabilizes the structure of the bnz - γ peptide and improves its biological activity . if desired , an appropriate enzyme - cleavage sequence proceeding to the n - terminus of the peptide shall be designed to remove the tag or any part of the peptide from the final protein . a nucleotide sequence encoding the custom derivative peptide with a stop codon at the 3 ′ end is inserted into a commercial vector with a tag portion derived from thioredoxin of e . coli and a special peptide sequence that is recognized and digested by an appropriate proteolytic enzyme ( for example , enterokinase ) intervening between the tag portion and the nucleotide sequence encoding the custom derivative peptide and stop codon . one example of a suitable vector is the pthiohis plasmid available from invitrogen , ca . other expression vectors may be used . conjugation of the bnz - γ and derivative to carrier proteins for immunization purposes and generation of anti - bnz - γ antibody bnz - γ and other custom derivative peptides are used to immunize animals to obtain polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies . peptides are conjugated to the n - or the c - terminus of appropriate carrier proteins ( for example , bovine serum albumin , keyhold limpet hemocyanin ( klh ), etc .) by conventional methods using glutaraldehyde or m - maleimidobenzoyl - n - hydroxysuccinimide ester . the conjugated peptides in conjunction with an appropriate adjuvant are then used to immunize animals such as rabbits , rodents , or donkeys . the resultant antibodies are examined for specificity using conventional methods . if the resultant antibodies react with the immunogenic peptide , they are then tested for the ability to inhibit individual γc - cytokine activity according to the cellular proliferation assays described in examples 1 - 3 . due to the composite nature of the derivative peptides it is possible to generate a single antibody that recognizes two different cytokines simultaneously , because of the composite nature of these peptides . recombinant proteins are produced in large scale by the use of cell - free system as described elsewhere . ( see takai et al ., 2010 curr . pharm . biotechnol . 11 ( 3 ): 272 - 8 .) briefly , cdnas encoding the γc - antagonist peptide and a tag are subcloned into an appropriate vector ( see takai et al ., 2010 curr . pharm . biotechnol . 11 ( 3 ): 272 - 8 ), which is subjected to in vitro transcription , followed immediately by an in vitro translation to produce the tagged peptide . the pro - polypeptide is then purified using an immobilized antibody recognizing the tagged epitope , treated by the proteolytic enzyme and the eluate ( which mostly contains the custom derivative peptide of interest ) is tested for purity using conventional 18 % tricine - sds - page ( invitrogen ) and conventional comassie staining . should the desired purity of the peptide not be met (& gt ; 98 %), the mixture is subjected to conventional hplc ( high - performance liquid chromatography ) for further purification . use of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptides to block cytokine function in ham / tsp htlv - 1 - associated myelopathy ( ham )/ tropical spastic paraparesis ( tsp ) is a chronic progressive myelopathy seen in some people infected with human t - lymphotropic virus type i ( htlv - i ). infiltration of lymphocytes in the spinal cord is associated with the immune response to htlv - i and results in the release of certain cytokines . some of these cytokines may also damage nerves . patients with ham / tsp show an elevated state of the immune system that is similar to that observed in autoimmune diseases ( oh et al . 2008 neurol clin . 26 : 781 - 785 ). this elevated state is demonstrated by the ability of ham / tsp patient &# 39 ; s t - cells to undergo spontaneous proliferation in an ex vivo culture for about a week in the absence of exogenously added cytokines . the spontaneous proliferation of t - cells in ham / tsp patients is attributed , at least partly , to autocrine / paracrine loops of il - 2 , il - 9 , and il - 15 . it has been shown that adding blocking antibody against the il - 2 or il - 15 receptors can inhibit spontaneous t - cell proliferation in a ham / tsp ex vivo culture system . these observations , along with other data derived from ex vivo studies , have provided the rationale for taking two monoclonal antibodies ( an anti - il - 2 receptor alpha or anti - tac and an anti - il - 15 receptor beta chain ) into the clinic for treatment of ham / tsp ( azimi et al . 2001 proc . natl . acad . sci . 98 : 14559 - 64 ., azimi et al ., 1999 j . immunol . 163 : 4064 - 72 ). anti - cytokine receptor antagonists according to the embodiments described herein , would not only be valuable as a therapeutic immuno - modulatory agent for treatment of ham / tsp , but modulation of immune response in ham / tsp by anti - cytokine receptor antagonists according to the present embodiments acts proof - of - concept for the use of the anti - cytokine receptor antagonists according to the present embodiments in the treatment of other auto - immune diseases . to demonstrate the efficacy of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptides according to the embodiments described herein , we tested the ability of bnz - γ peptide to block immune response to htlv - i in a spontaneous t - cell proliferation assay using a ham / tsp ex vivo culture system . proliferation assays were performed on ham / tsp patient blood samples with and without the addition of bnz - γ . these assays evaluated the ability of bnz - γ to block the function of cytokines , such as il - 2 and il - 15 , present in the ex vivo ham / tsp patient blood culture and prevent spontaneous t - cell proliferation in these samples . in an ex vivo spontaneous t - cell proliferation assay , pbmc from ham / tsp patient was cultured at 1 × 10 ( 6 ) cells per well of a 96 well plate in rpmi - 10 % fcs . increasing concentrations of bnz - γ peptide were added to each well . as a control , an irrelevant peptide was used in similar fashion . the cells were incubated in a 37 ° c . co2 incubator for 3 , 4 , and 6 days . the amount of 1 uci of 3 h - thymidine was added to the cells . after an additional 6 hour incubation , cells were harvested their proliferation rate was measured . the data for a representative ham / tsp patient is shown in fig4 a - d . as indicated in fig4 , bnz - γ peptide inhibits the spontaneous proliferation of t - cells in ham / tsp culture at a concentration of about 1 ug / ml . other immunological markers were additionally measured in this assay . the percentage of the viral specific cd8 cells was measured during the ex vivo culture using viral protein tetramers . the population of cd4 + cd25 + cells , a marker of t - cell activation , as well as ki67 staining , a marker of t - cell proliferation , was monitored in a flow cytometry assay . other forms of the conjugated bnz - γ peptide derivative can be used in a similar future assay . they include albumin , bsa , peg that can be conjugated to the peptide after chemical synthesis . other biological forms of the bnz - γ peptide conjugate may include regions of known protein entities ( including but not limited to fc region of human igg ) that are fused to the bnz - γ peptide derivative . method of treating adult t - cell leukemia ( atl ) in a human patient by administration of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptide a human patient suffering from adult t - cell leukemia is identified . an effective dose , as determined by the physician , of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptide , for example , bnz - γ is administered to the patient for a period of time determined by the physician . treatment is determined to be effective if patient enters remission . method of treating ham / tsp in a human patient by administration of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptide a human patient suffering from ham / tsp is identified . an effective dose , as determined by the physician , of custom derivative γc - antagonist peptide , for example , bnz - γ is administered to the patient for a period of time determined by the physician . treatment is determined to be effective if patient &# 39 ; s symptoms improve or if the progression of the disease has been stopped or slowed down . antony , p . a ., paulos , c . m ., ahmadzadeh , m ., akpinarli , a ., palmer , d . c ., sato , n ., kaiser a ., heinrichs , c . s ., klebanoff , c . a ., tagaya , y ., and restifo , n p ., interleukin - 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