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Flow Cytometric Analysis of Natural Interferon‐α Producing Cells
Author(s) -
SANDBERG K.,
ELORANTA ML.,
JOHANNISSON A.,
ALM G. V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1991.tb01580.x
Subject(s) - biology , cd19 , myeloid , antigen , population , microbiology and biotechnology , interferon , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , progenitor cell , immunology , stem cell , medicine , biochemistry , environmental health , in vitro
Herpes simplex virus‐infected cells induce high interferon‐a (IFN‐α) production in infrequent cells among peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), designated natural IFN‐a producing (NIP) cells. The properties of such NIP cells were compared with defined populations of leucocytes by means of flow cytometric analysis and sorting. The NIP cells are characterized as a discrete population of cells with high forward and low to intermediate orthogonal light scattering, similar to that of early progenitors of myeloid and lymphoid cells. However, they appear lo lack the stem cell‐associated molecule CD34. Furthermore, NIP cells cannot be localized to the myeloid line of cell differentiation, because they do not express the CD33. CD 13, CD11b, CD15 or CD14 antigens. Neither do they express CDIO and CD19 antigens which are present in all stages of B‐cell differentiation plasma cells excepted, nor CD7 antigens expressed on early T cells. In combination with previous results, our data support the view that the NIP cell is a unique and distinct cell type in peripheral blood, possibly with a physiological role in the defence against certain viral infections.