Patent ID: 7998926

Claim:
A dimer comprising a monomer that (a) consists of, from the N-terminus to the C-terminus direction, the sequence Cys Lys Pro Ile Ser Gly His Asn Ser Leu Phe Trp Tyr Arg Gln Thr (SEQ ID NO:1) with the proviso that, if the sequences are present as an aqueous solution, then at least 81% of the occurrences of the sequence are present as a dimer; or (b) is a homolog of the β3 peptide of the T-cell receptor β chain clone YT35, the said β3 peptide consisting of, from the N-terminus to the C-terminus direction, the sequence Cys Lys Pro Ile Ser Gly His Asn Ser Leu Phe Trp Tyr Arg Gln Thr (SEQ ID NO:1), wherein the homolog has the sequence of a segment of another distinct human Vβ gene which segment corresponds to the same segment as the said β3 peptide and wherein the homolog has the sequence Cys-[X]-Trp-[Y], wherein [X] is a 10 or 11 amino acid sequence and wherein [Y] is a 4 amino acid sequence; or (c) is a variant of the monomer of (a) or (b), wherein: (i) the variant has the sequence Cys-[X]-Trp-[Y], wherein [X] is a 10 or 11 amino acid sequence that has the sequence of amino acids 2-11 of the β3 peptide of the T-cell receptor β chain clone YT35, which is Lys Pro Ile Ser Gly His Asn Ser Leu Phe, or the sequence of the same segment of another distinct human Vβ gene which segment corresponds to the same segment as the said β3 peptide; and (ii) wherein [Y] is a 4 amino acid sequence that has the sequence of amino acids 13-16 of the β3 peptide of the T-cell receptor β chain clone YT35, which is Tyr Arg Gln Thr, or the sequence of the same segment of another distinct human Vβ gene which segment corresponds to the same segment as the said β3 peptide, except that, at one position in total within the [X] and [Y] sequences, there is a substitution wherein the dimer when administered as a dose of 200 μg/mouse to a C57BL/6 mouse infected with the LP-BM5 retrovirus, has the ability to normalize IL-4 secretion by mitogen-stimulated splenocytes of said mouse relative to a C57BL/6 mouse infected with the LP-BM5 retrovirus and treated with saline.