Murine genotype influences the in vitro production of gamma (immune) interferon

Spleen cells from mice of 6 different strains were stimulated with pokeweed mitogen and the amount of gamma interferon in th supernatants was measured. Three strains (BALB/c, A/J and C3H/He) were found to be low producers (less than 50 units) whereas three other strains (C57BL6, CBA and AKR) were high producers (50 to 500 units). F1 hybrids between a low producer strain (A/J) and a high producer strain (C57BL6) were found to produce low amounts of interferon. Nude mice did not produce detectable amounts of pokeweed mitogen-induce gamma interferon. The level of production of this T cell lymphokine is thus under genetic control.