Effects of bacteria-produced human alpha, beta, and gamma interferons on in vitro immune functions

The effects of bacteria-produced human interferons (HuIFN) alpha, beta, and gamma on in vitro immune functions of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were studied. Proliferative response to phytohemagglutinin was significantly inhibited by the addition of HuIFN-alpha 2 or HuIFN-beta at 10, 100, or 1000 U/ml. In contrast, HuIFN-gamma showed suppressive activities only when added at 1000 U/ml. HuIFN-alpha 2 or HuIFN-beta caused significant inhibition of human mixed-lymphocyte reaction (MLR) as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation. Similar inhibition was caused by HuIFN-gamma when it was added only at very low concentrations (1 U/ml); 10, 100, or 1000 U/ml resulted in no or only a modest increase in MLR. All three interferons exhibited dose-related effects on PWM-induced immunoglobulin synthesis in cultures of PBMC. These data demonstrate that purified interferons produced by recombinant DNA technology can significantly alter in vitro immune functions and that HuIFN-gamma has properties which are different from those of HuIFN-alpha 2 or HuIFN-beta.