title: Effect of interleukin-4 on interleukin-2-dependent generation of natural killer cells.
abstract: We have previously shown that interleukin-2 (IL-2) is able to induce the generation of natural killer (NK) activity in bone marrow (BM) cells from mice pretreated with 5-fluorouracil. IL-2 alone could dose-dependently induce NK activity in marrow cells and interleukin-4 (IL-4) has dual effect on the NK activity in that, depending on the concentration of IL-2, IL-4 inhibits or stimulates development of NK cells. The inhibitory effect was in part antagonized by interleukin-1 alpha. These effects were not obtained when NK-reactive spleen cells were cultured with the same concentrations of IL-2 or IL-2 plus IL-4 with or without irradiated BM cells as feeders. The effects of IL-4 were also obtained by preincubation for 6-24 hr before culturing with IL-2 alone and correlated with the expression of interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2/r), suggesting that IL-4 might play a regulatory role in the IL-2-dependent generation of NK cells in BM.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Migliorati
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cardinali
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Riccardi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D010641:Phenotype; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000032:analysis; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007375:Interleukin-1; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D015847:Interleukin-4