Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1982 Nov;50(2):246–252.

Interferon and natural killer cells in systemic lupus erythematosus.

O Strannegård, S Hermodsson, G Westberg
PMCID: PMC1536671  PMID: 6185256

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cell activity against several types of target cells was found to be subnormal in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Interferon (IFN) boosted the NK activity of cells from SLE patients to a significantly lesser degree than cells from normal controls. The production of IFN after stimulation of blood cells with Sendai virus was significantly decreased in SLE patients with active disease, and in a substantial proportion of the patients the production of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-induced IFN was below normal limits. Although the production of virus-induced IFN was clearly inversely correlated to disease activity no such correlation was observed for PHA-induced IFN. Serum levels of both pH2 stable and pH2 labile IFN were significantly higher in SLE patients than in controls. The findings clearly show that SLE is associated with abnormalities in the NK cell-IFN system but it cannot be stated whether these abnormalities are causally related to the development of disease or are secondary to pathological changes in SLE.

Full text

PDF
246

Selected References

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

  1. Abdou N. I., Sagawa A., Pascual E., Hebert J., Sadeghee S. Suppressor T-cell abnormality in idiopathic systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1976 Sep;6(2):192–199. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(76)90110-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alarcón-Segovia D., Ruiz-Gómez J., Fishbein E., Bustamante M. E. Interferon production by lymphocytes from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1974 Sep-Oct;17(5):590–592. doi: 10.1002/art.1780170513. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Alekberova Z. S., Barinskii I. F., Savinov V. A., Pitenov V. A., Kuznetsov V. P. Vliianie ékzogennogo interferona i nekotorykh interferonogenov na pokazateli obshchei reaktivnosti pri sistemn oi krasnoi volchanke. Ter Arkh. 1980;52(6):98–100. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Attallah A. M., Urritia-Shaw A., Khalit R. Y., Steinberg A. D., Ahmed A. Interferon immunoregulation of antibody response in normal and autoimmune mice is mediated by suppressor T cell subsets. Int Arch Allergy Appl Immunol. 1981;64(3):353–358. doi: 10.1159/000232714. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bresnihan B., Jasin H. E. Suppressor function of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in normal individuals and in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. J Clin Invest. 1977 Jan;59(1):106–116. doi: 10.1172/JCI108607. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Engleman E. G., Sonnenfeld G., Dauphinee M., Greenspan J. S., Talal N., McDevitt H. O., Merigan T. C. Treatment of NZB/NZW F1 hybrid mice with Mycobacterium bovis strain BCG or type II interferon preparations accelerates autoimmune disease. Arthritis Rheum. 1981 Nov;24(11):1396–1402. doi: 10.1002/art.1780241110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Epstein L. B., Gupta S. Human T-lymphocyte subset production of immune (gamma) interferon. J Clin Immunol. 1981 Jul;1(3):186–194. doi: 10.1007/BF00922762. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fitzharris P., Alcocer J., Stephens H. A., Knight R. A., Snaith M. L. Insensitivity to interferon of NK cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Exp Immunol. 1982 Jan;47(1):110–118. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Herberman R. B. Natural killer (NK) cells and their possible roles in resistance against disease. Clin Immunol Rev. 1981;1(1):1–65. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Heremans H., Billiau A., Colombatti A., Hilgers J., de Somer P. Interferon treatment of NZB mice: accelerated progression of autoimmune disease. Infect Immun. 1978 Sep;21(3):925–930. doi: 10.1128/iai.21.3.925-930.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hoffman T. Natural killer funciton in systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1980 Jan;23(1):30–35. doi: 10.1002/art.1780230106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hooks J. J., Moutsopoulos H. M., Geis S. A., Stahl N. I., Decker J. L., Notkins A. L. Immune interferon in the circulation of patients with autoimmune disease. N Engl J Med. 1979 Jul 5;301(1):5–8. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197907053010102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kadish A. S., Tansey F. A., Yu G. S., Doyle A. T., Bloom B. R. Interferon as a mediator of human lymphocyte suppression. J Exp Med. 1980 Mar 1;151(3):637–650. doi: 10.1084/jem.151.3.637. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Markenson J. A., Morgan J. W., Lockshin M. D., Joachim C., Winfield J. B. Responses of fractionated cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and normals to plant mitogen: evidence for a suppressor population of monocytes. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1978 May;158(1):5–9. doi: 10.3181/00379727-158-40127. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Messner R. P., Lindström F. D., Williams R. C., Jr Peripheral blood lymphocyte cell surface markers during the course of systemic lupus erythematosus. J Clin Invest. 1973 Dec;52(12):3046–3056. doi: 10.1172/JCI107503. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Nies K. M., Stevens R. H., Louie J. S. Normal T cell regulation of IgG synthesis in systemic lupus erythematosus. J Clin Lab Immunol. 1980 Sep;4(2):69–75. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Oshimi K., Gonda N., Sumiya M., Kano S. Effects of corticosteroids on natural killer cell activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Clin Exp Immunol. 1980 Apr;40(1):83–88. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Oshimi K., Sumiya M., Gonda N., Kano S., Takaku F. Natural killer cell activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Lancet. 1979 Nov 10;2(8150):1023–1023. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)92603-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Rosenthal C. J., Franklin E. C. Depression of cellular-mediated immunity in systemic lupus erythematosus. relation to disease activity. Arthritis Rheum. 1975 May-Jun;18(3):207–217. doi: 10.1002/art.1780180303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Saksela E., Timonen T., Cantell K. Cellular interactions in the augmentation of human NK activity by interferon. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1980;350:102–111. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1980.tb20611.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sonnenfeld G., Mandel A. D., Merigan T. C. Time and dosage dependence of immunoenhancement by murine type II interferon preparations. Cell Immunol. 1978 Oct;40(2):285–293. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(78)90336-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Svensson B. O. Serum factors causing impaired macrophage function in systemic lupus erythematosus. Scand J Immunol. 1975;4(2):145–150. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1975.tb02611.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Trinchieri G., Santoli D. Anti-viral activity induced by culturing lymphocytes with tumor-derived or virus-transformed cells. Enhancement of human natural killer cell activity by interferon and antagonistic inhibition of susceptibility of target cells to lysis. J Exp Med. 1978 May 1;147(5):1314–1333. doi: 10.1084/jem.147.5.1314. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Yip Y. K., Pang R. H., Oppenheim J. D., Nachbar M. S., Henriksen D., Zerebeckyj-Eckhardt I., Vilcek J. Stimulation of human gamma interferon production by diterpene esters. Infect Immun. 1981 Oct;34(1):131–139. doi: 10.1128/iai.34.1.131-139.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES