Effect of human interferon on lectin-dependent cellular cytotoxicity

The effect of human interferon (IF) on lectin-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (LDCC) was studied in vitro. Using chicken erythrocytes as target cells in a 40h assay IF was found to inhibit this reaction at concentrations of 1,000 IF units/ml. When tumor cells were used as targets in a 4 h assay IF caused an increase in the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes in the presence of PHA. However, when the spontaneous cytotoxic activity was subtracted from this value no major effect of IF on LDCC could be observed.