title: Interferon-induced cytolysis correlates with the degree of transformation of epidermal cells.
abstract: The cytolytic activity of interferon (IFN) was evaluated for its ability to distinguish between paired sets of nontumorigenic/tumorigenic epidermal cells (JB-1/JB-8; D1/D11a) as well as a set consisting of nonpromotable, promotable, and tumorigenic epidermal cell lines (JB-6 clones 30, 21, and RT101). The viability of the cell types was measured in a microassay using histoplates. IFN-gamma and IFN-alpha/beta, when employed singly, demonstrated an equivalent and limited effect on the viability of all cell lines. Treatment of nontumorigenic and nonpromotable cell lines with the combination of IFN-gamma + IFN-alpha/beta also caused only a limited effect on cell viability, whereas treatment of tumorigenic and promotable cell lines with the combination of IFNs caused a marked decrease in cell viability. Thus, the cytolytic effect of IFNs employed in combination but not singly was discriminatory between tumorigenic and nontumorigenic cells as well as between promotable and nonpromotable cells. Addition of cytotoxic effector cells was found to have a relatively moderate effect on the survival of target cells that were treated with IFN-gamma or IFN-alpha/beta separately. Addition of cytotoxic effectors to target cells treated with the IFNs in combination had a discriminatory effect. Nontumorigenic and nonpromotable cells were moderately affected; the tumorigenic and the promotable cells, however, were markedly affected, resulting in their complete (or nearly complete) eradication. The results demonstrate that combination IFN treatment: has a discriminatory cytolytic effect on tumorigenic and promotable cells in contrast to their nontumorigenic and nonpromotable counterparts; and when added to cytotoxic effector cells can completely eradicate tumorigenic and promotable cells while having a significantly lesser effect on nontumorigenic and nonpromotable cells.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004817:Epidermis / Q000276:immunology*; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000276:immunology*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I; D007371:Interferon-gamma