Patent ID: 7910368

Claim:
A method for maintaining cytotoxic T cell having an antigen-specific cytotoxic activity, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: incubating a peripheral blood mononuclear cell with an antigen presenting cell in a medium containing effective ingredients consisting essentially of interleukin-2 and a fragment of fibronectin having a molecular weight of from 10 kDa to 180 kDa or a mixture thereof, wherein the fragment of fibronectin is immobilized to an artificial substrate and comprises at least one domain selected from the group consisting of (a) a VLA-4 binding domain (b) a VLA-5 binding domain and (c) a heparin binding domain, and said incubating step gives said peripheral blood mononuclear cell an ability to recognize a desired antigen and induces differentiation of the peripheral mononuclear cell to a cytotoxic T cell; and continuously culturing the cytotoxic T cell obtained by the preceding step in the presence of a fragment of fibronectin having a molecular weight of from 10 kDa to 180 kDa or a mixture thereof, wherein the fragment of fibronectin is immobilized to an artificial substrate and comprises at least one domain selected from the group consisting of: (a) a VLA-4 binding domain, (b) a VLA-5 binding domain, and (c) a heparin binding domain.