Compositions and methods for targeted cytokine delivery

A method of expanding cytotoxic lymphocytes ex vivo, comprising culturing a population of lymphocytes in the presence of a chimeric peptide,

• wherein the chimeric peptide comprises an orthopoxvirus major histocompatibility complex class 1-like protein (OMCP) peptide linked to an interleukin-2 (IL-2) mutant peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
• 5 comprising at least one mutation, wherein the at least one mutation is R38A, F42K, or C125S relative to SEQ ID NO:
• 5 wherein the OMCP peptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:
• 7, SEQ ID NO:
• 13, and SEQ ID NO:
• 14, and
• wherein the population of lymphocytes comprises cytotoxic lymphocytes.