title: Autoantibodies to crude human leucocyte interferon (IFN), native human IFN, recombinant human IFN-alpha 2b and human IFN-gamma in healthy blood donors.
abstract: Recently, naturally occurring antibodies to IFN-alpha were discovered in a few systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cancer patients; however, in most patients monitored for anti-IFN antibodies before treatment, no antibodies were found. In an attempt to explain the 'IFN-blocking effect' that we observed in all serum samples we investigated 200 sera from healthy blood donors. We isolated the globulin fraction, and used rabbit anti-human IgG and IgM columns, protein A columns and T-gel affinity chromatography to isolate human IgG and IgM. All sample fractions were tested in a biological IFN neutralization assay by means of a sensitive MTT-assay. We found that normal human serum contained autoantibodies to crude human leucocyte IFN, native human fibroblast IFN, recombinant human leucocyte IFN-alpha 2b and recombinant human IFN-gamma, and that these naturally occurring antibodies were biologically active immunoglobulins of IgG and IgM type. These anti-IFN antibodies were also present in purified human normal immunoglobulin pools. We conclude that all humans have naturally occurring anti-interferon antibodies in their serum, and it is a tempting theory that human cytokines and lymphokines are, at least partly, regulated by immunoglobulins.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schyberg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001782:Blood Donors; D002460:Cell Line; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000276:immunology; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000276:immunology*; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D009580:Nitroblue Tetrazolium; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D007370:Interferon Type I; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D009580:Nitroblue Tetrazolium; D007371:Interferon-gamma