Hyporesponsiveness of human alveolar leukocytes to interferon-alpha and interferon-gamma inducers

Leukocytes were obtained from bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) of 36 patients including 10 with lung cancer, 15 with inflammatory lung diseases and 11 healthy control patients undergoing diagnostic investigation. The entire alveolar cell population responded weakly to the classic interferon (IFN) inducers: Newcastle disease virus (NDV), phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This refers mainly to normal healthy volunteers. Alveolar leukocytes from patients with inflammatory lung diseases and nonsteroid treated lung cancer responded better to the interferon inducers than did cells from other patients. The IFN-alpha or IFN-gamma response of whole blood leukocytes to the same inducers was 10 to 100-fold higher than that of the alveolar cells. Alveolar macrophages from 6 healthy individuals and 3 patients with inflammatory lung disease were cultured in vitro for 6 days. The IFN response to inducers appears to depend on the origin of the cultured cells. It increased in the initially hyporeactive macrophages from healthy subjects and decreased in the relatively reactive cells from the patients with inflammatory lung diseases. We suggest that the hyporeactivity to IFN induction is a physiological state of the alveolar leukocytes which are a specialized cell population having constant exposure to inhaled agents such as dust, smoke, microorganisms and their by-products. The hyporesponsiveness to IFN induction of the alveolar cells may have an important physiological role in protecting lungs against hyperproduction of cytokines involved in the inflammatory and allergic reactions.