title: Spontaneous production of alpha- and beta-interferon in human lymphoblastoid and lymphoma cell lines.
abstract: A large number of human haematopoietic cell lines was examined for spontaneous production of interferon. Unconcentrated culture supernatants from 70 out of 71 B-lymphoblastoid cell lines contained considerable amounts of interferon (median titer 22 units per ml); a few lines produced more than 100 units/ml with peak values up to 500 units/ml. In contrast, only one B-lymphoma line out of 18 genuine lymphoma, myeloma, and leukaemia cell lines tested spontaneously produced small amounts of interferon. Following treatment with 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd), interferon was produced without further induction in most B-lymphoid cell lines, but not in any of the non-B, non-T, T-lymphoid or myeloid lines examined. Modulation of spontaneous interferon production by chemicals (sodium butyrate, dexamethasone, dimethylsulfoxide, a phorbol ester, and BrdUrd) was studied in more detail in three B-lymphoblastoid and four B-lymphoma cell lines. The patterns of responses observed were different for the action of different chemicals on a given cell line as well as between lymphoblastoid and lymphoma lines in general; furthermore, several lines of evidence suggest that chemicals can differentially influence spontaneous and virus-induced interferon production in an given cell line. The composition of spontaneously produced interferon was analysed using antisera specific for HuIFN-alpha and HuIFN-beta. Interferons produced by untreated as well as BrdUrd-treated lymphoblastoid cells contained more than 95 per cent IFN-alpha, whereas BrdUrd-treated lymphoma cells produced IFN-alpha as well as minor amounts (cell lines Namalwa and NC-37) or even over 90 per cent of IFN-beta (Daudi).
mesh_terms: D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002460:Cell Line; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007700:Kinetics; D007938:Leukemia / Q000378:metabolism; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000378:metabolism; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D003907:Dexamethasone; D007372:Interferons; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide