Evaluation of interleukin-12-induced interferon-y production in vitro by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic liver disease.
OBJECTIVE
Interleukin-12 plays an important role in anti-tumor immune response by induction of interferon-gamma production by T cells and NK cells, and by activation of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells. We evaluated interleukin-12-induced interferon-gamma production as one of the immunological markers of patients with chronic liver diseases.


METHODS
Interleukin-12-induced interferon-gamma production was measured in vitro in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 28 hepatocellular carcinoma patients, 10 liver cirrhosis patients, 14 chronic hepatitis patients and 16 healthy individuals.


RESULTS
The hepatocellular carcinoma patients exhibited a reduced interleukin-12 responsiveness for interferon-gamma production compared to the liver cirrhosis patients, the chronic hepatitis patients and the healthy individuals. The reduced interferon-gamma production seemed to roughly reflect clinical stage in the hepatocellular carcinoma patients. The interferon-gamma production correlated with neither alpha-fetoprotein nor protein induced by vitamin K absence II.


CONCLUSIONS
The level of interleukin-12-induced interferon-gamma production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was significantly lower than that in the patients with liver cirrhosis which is thought to be a premalignant state. The measurement of interferon-gamma production may be useful in evaluating severity of chronic liver disease from an immunological point of view.
Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, 1-1, Mukogawa, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan. t-ohk@hyo-med.ac.jp
Hiroyasu
H
Imanishi
Jidong
J
Cheng
Naoto
N
Ikeda
Masaki
M
Saito
Masao
M
Ohno
Naoki
N
Hara
Souji
S
Shimomura
Tetsuo
T
Yamamoto
Yoshiki
Y
Amuro
Hiromi
H
Fujiwara
Toshikazu
T
Hada
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000276:immunology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000502:physiology; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000276:immunology; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
D018664:Interleukin-12; D007371:Interferon-gamma