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Enhancement in vitro of the low interferon‐7 production of leukocytes from human newborn infants
Author(s) -
McKenzie Steven E.,
Kline Jane,
Douglas Steven D.,
Polin Richard A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1002/jlb.53.6.691
Subject(s) - biology , in vitro , immunology , interferon gamma , interferon γ , interferon , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), a lymphokine produced by lymphocytes with the help of monocytes, is essential for host resistance to intracellular pathogens. Leukocytes from normal term newborn infants cannot produce IFN‐γ in vitro in response to stimulation by antigen or mitogens in vitro or in vivo. We investigated the production of IFN‐γ in vitro using endotoxin from Salmonella typhimurium as a stimulus. In contrast to those from adults, mononuclear cells derived from the cord blood of newborn infants did not produce IFN‐γ in response to this endotoxin. We investigated the contribution of the functional immaturity of cord blood monocytes to this relative inability to produce IFN‐γ. Aging of the monocytes for 2 weeks in vitro or treatment of freshly isolated cord blood monocytes with conditioned medium (from cultures of mononuclear cells from healthy adults) greatly enhanced IFN‐γ production stimulated by endotoxin. Furthermore, recombinant human granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF), macrophage colony‐ stimulating factor (M‐CSF), or IFN‐γ was able to substitute in part for the conditioned medium from adult cells. Thus correction of the functional immaturity of monocytes derived from newborn infants can result in enhanced production of IFN‐γ in vitro.