[Interferon production in peripheral blood cells of patients with pulmonary mycobacterial disease].
Production of interferon (IFN)-alpha and IFN-gamma were examined in 31 patients with acute tuberculosis, 12 patients with atypical mycobacterial disease. IFN production was examined in cultures of unseparated fresh whole blood. Production of IFN-alpha was induced by hemagglutinating virus of Japan and production of IFN-gamma was induced by PHA. Patients with mycobacterial disease produced significantly less IFN-alpha than healthy subjects. In patients with acute tuberculosis, effective chemotherapy for 2 months restored IFN-alpha production. Patients produced less IFN-gamma than healthy subjects, but the difference was not significant. Patients with high serum CRP levels tended to produce little IFN-alpha. These results suggest that measurement of IFN production is useful for immunological evaluation of patients with mycobacterial disease.
Tada
A
A
Department of Internal Medicine, National Sanatorium, Minami-Okayama Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
Kawahara
S
S
Tamaoki
A
A
Takeuchi
M
M
Tanimoto
Y
Y
Okada
C
C
Mishima
Y
Y
Soda
R
R
Takahashi
K
K
Kibata
M
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000276:immunology*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000276:immunology*
D016898:Interferon-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma