Patent ID: 7125551

Claim:
A method for treating an asthmatic disorder, comprising: administering to an individual in need of treatment an 8F4 inhibitory molecule, wherein said 8F4 inhibitory molecule is a monoclonal antibody that recognizes a human 8F4 polypeptide, wherein said 8F4 polypeptide: a) is an inducible T cell costimulatory molecule: b) occurs on two-signal-activated human CD4 + T lymphocytes from human peripheral blood; c) exhibits a molecular weight of about 55 to 60 kilodaltons as determined by non-reducing sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE); and d) is a dimer of two peptide chains exhibiting molecular weights of about 27 kilodaltons and 29 kilodaltons, as measured by reducing SDS-PAGE, wherein the human 8F4 polypeptide is recognized by the antibody produced by the hybridoma deposited with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (“DSMZ”) and assigned accession no. DSM ACC2539: and wherein the monoclonal antibody, in conjunction with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody OKT3, costimulates proliferation of human T lymphocytes under conditions in which the monoclonal antibody and OKT3 are immobilized on an anti-mouse Ig-coated 96 well plate; in an amount sufficient to ameliorate a symptom of the asthmatic disorder, such that the asthmatic disorder is treated.