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. 1991 Oct;74(2):279–283.

The role of interferon alpha/beta in the induction of intestinal pathology in mice.

P Garside 1, M V Felstein 1, E A Green 1, A M Mowat 1
PMCID: PMC1384605  PMID: 1748474

Abstract

We have investigated the role of interferon-alpha/beta (IFN-alpha/beta) and IFN-dependent effector cells in causing enteropathy in mice. The IFN-inducer polyinosinic:polycytydylic acid (poly I:C) augmented the natural killer (NK) cell activation normally seen in neonatal (CBA x BALB/c)F1 mice with graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) and exacerbated the systemic and intestinal consequences of GVHR. Poly I:C itself produced a similar pattern of intestinal pathology when administered to normal mice. The effects of poly I:C on NK cell activity and intestinal architecture in normal mice could be reproduced by a single injection of purified IFN-alpha/beta and the intestinal lesions caused by IFN-alpha/beta were prevented by in vivo depletion of NK cells with anti-asialo GM1. These results indicate that IFN-alpha/beta may play an important role in immunologically mediated enteropathies by virtue of its ability to activate NK cells.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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