Fig. 1.
IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-γ production is decreased in human Th0 and Th2 clones after treatment with NAC. Three Th0 clones (29 : 19, 24 : 12, 25 : 4; a, b and c, respectively) and three Th2 clones (24 : 9, 24 : 6, 12 : 3; d, e and f) were activated with anti-CD3 antibodies for 16 h in serum-free medium (1 × 106 cells in 1 ml medium), supplemented with IL-2 (20 U/ml) and with or without NAC (0·5–20 mm). The concentrations of IL-4 (□), IL-5 (•) and IFN-γ (O) were assayed in the culture supernatants with ELISA. The results are shown as decrease in cytokine production (% of control). The concentration of IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-γ, respectively, at 16 h without addition of NAC was (7, 10 and 5 ng/ml) (16, 53 and 5 ng/ml) and (2, 5 and 2 ng/ml) in the Th0 clones and (2, 20 and 0·4 ng/ml) (28, 16 and 0·3 ng/ml) and (35, 18 and 0·2 ng/ml) in the Th2 clones.