Open AccessA species of human alpha interferon that lacks the ability to boost human natural killer activity.
Author(s) -
John R. Ortaldo,
Ronald B. Herberman,
Cliff Harvey,
Phylis Osheroff,
YuChing E. Pan,
Bruce Kelder,
Sidney Pestka
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.81.15.4926
Subject(s) - alpha interferon , recombinant dna , cytolysis , alpha (finance) , biological activity , biology , augment , interferon alfa , natural killer cell , interferon , receptor , immunology , biochemistry , in vitro , cytotoxicity , medicine , gene , construct validity , linguistics , philosophy , nursing , patient satisfaction
Most species of recombinant leukocyte interferons (IFN-alpha A, -alpha B, -alpha C, -alpha D, -alpha F, -alpha I, and -alpha K) were capable of boosting human natural killer (NK) activity after a 2-hr treatment of cells at a concentration of 1-80 units/ml. In contrast, recombinant human IFN-alpha J was found to be incapable of augmenting NK activity after exposure of cells for 2 hr to concentrations as high as 10,000 units/ml. This inability of IFN-alpha J to boost NK activity was not complete because, after exposure of cells to a high concentration of IFN-alpha J (10,000 units/ml) for 18 hr, boosting of cytolysis was observed. IFN-alpha J appeared to interact with receptors for IFN on NK cells since it was found to interfere with the boosting of NK activity by other species of IFN-alpha. In contrast to its deficient ability to augment NK activity, IFN-alpha J has potent antiviral and antiproliferative activities. Such extensive dissociation of these biological activities has not been observed previously with any other natural or recombinant IFN species. Thus, this IFN species may be useful for evaluating the relative importance of various biological activities on the therapeutic effects of IFN, for understanding structure-function relationships, and for determining the biochemical pathways related to the various biological effects of IFN.