Targeted computational design of an interleukin-7 superkine with enhanced folding efficiency and immunotherapeutic efficacy

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) plays a central role in maintaining T cell development and immune homeostasis, and enhancing the cytokine’s immune-stimulatory functionality has broad therapeutic implications against various oncological malignancies. Herein, we show a computationally designed IL7 superkine, Neo-7, which exhibits enhanced folding efficiency and superior binding affinity to its cognate receptors. To streamline the protein candidate prediction and validation process, the loop region of IL7 was strategically targeted for redesign while most of the receptor-interacting regions were preserved. Leveraging advanced computational tools such as AlphaFold2, we show loop remodeling to rectify structural irregularities that allows for iterative stabilization of protein backbone and leads to identification of beneficial mutations conducive to receptor engagement. Neo-7 superkine shows improved thermostability and production yield, and it exhibits heightened immune-stimulatory and anticancer effe..., , # Data from: Targeted computational design of an interleukin-7 superkine with enhanced folding efficiency and immunotherapeutic efficacy

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22v5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22v5)

## Description of the data and file structure

File: eLife-VOR-RA-2025-107671-sourcedata3.zip

The source data is divided into different folders as follows:

### Computational protein design

(delineating the important models used as design blueprint and outputs from the Alphafold design; readers are encouraged to use publicly available visualization software such as Pymol (for .pse format) and Biovia Discovery Studio (for.dsv format) to visualize the dataset. 

-Figure2-source data.pse = 3DI2 (3D structure for WT-IL7; PDB ID 3DI2) superimposed with Neo-7 Helix only (Helix section from 3DI2 used to design Neo-7) and Neo-7 skeleton (Neo-7 structure with connecting loops designed to connect the helices). 

-Figure3A-source data.pse = Superimposition of Neo7-LD1-AF-singleseq...,