The effect of cytokines on cultured mononuclear cells from patients with B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

✍ Scribed by Frances Burke; Dorota Griffin; Nagaire Elwood; Carol Davis; Gordon Stamp; Anna Rohatiner; T. Andrew Lister; Frances Balkwill

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 734 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0278-0232
• DOI: 10.1002/hon.2900110104

✦ Synopsis

In the past 5 years a number of cytokines have been identified that control B cell development, proliferation, and maturation. The role of such cytokines in the evolution, pathophysiology, and treatment of B cell malignancies is an area of great interest. The in vitro response of freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with €3 cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) and a high white cell count, to four cytokines, IFN-a, IFN-y, IL-2 and TNF, was studied. No culture condition or cytokine resulted in a significant increase in cell number over 4 days, cells survived better in autologous serum than in heat inactivated foetal calf serum, and a small but significant increase in blast cells was seen when the cells were cultured in IL-2. There was a discrepancy between uptake of thymidine and increase in cell number which can be explained by the low labelling index of these cultures and the fact that cells can incorporate [3H]-thymidine without going into mitosis. The majority ofcultures produced biologically active TNF at levels ranging from 1 to 40 pg/ml. In IFN-a treated cultures TNF levels were decreased. Cultures contained biologically active IL-6 at levels ranging from 2 to 2800 U/ml. IL-6 production was not influenced by other cytokines. Thirteen of 28 patients had detectable IL-6 in their serum, but in cells lysed no more than 2 h after removal from the patient, message for IL-6 could not be detected by Northern blotting. Cells also failed to express IL-lP mRNA but seven of eight patients had low levels of TNF message. Preliminary data using in situ hybridization techniques revealed that whilst no mRNA for IL-6 was detected, TNF and IL-1P mRNA were detected in a minority of mononuclear cells.