Antigen-stimulated IL-4, IL-13 and IFN-γ production by human T cells at a single-cell level

✍ Scribed by Bauke A. de Boer; Yvonne E. Fillié; Yvonne C. M. Kruize; Maria Yazdanbakhsh

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 145 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-2980
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1521-4141(199810)28:10<3154::aid-immu3154>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

To understand the intricate balance and the coordinate expression of the Th1 and Th2 cytokines following a natural mode of T cell triggering, antigen-stimulated IL-4, IL-13 and IFN-+ production was studied in primary peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures at a single-cell level. Cells from filariasis patients who respond to parasite antigen by producing not only IFN-+ but also IL-4 and IL-13 were stimulated with Brugia malayi adult worm antigen and analyzed for co-expression of cytokines by intracellular staining. IL-4 and IL-13 were frequently co-expressed (54 % of IL-4 + cells stained for IL-13 and 29 % of IL-13 + cells expressed IL-4 at all time points), whereas IFN-+ expression was totally segregated from both IL-4 and IL-13. These data indicate that in human peripheral T cells the co-expression of the dominant Th1 and Th2 cytokines within a single cell is a rare event and that IL-13 is clearly more frequently associated with a Th2 than a Th1 type response in primary T cell cultures.