Priming of Staphylococcus aureus-induced interferon production in human buffy coat leukocytes by human interferon-alpha pretreatment.

Human buffy coat leukocytes produced interferon (IFN) in response to induction with heat-killed Staphylococcus aureus. Pretreatment of cell with 150 IU/ml human interferon-alpha (HuIFN-alpha) for 3 h enhanced the IFN production by about four- to eight-fold. The simultaneous presence of HuIFN-alpha and gamma in the culture supernatants was indicated by parallel titrations on human embryo fibroblasts (HEF) and MadinDarby bovine kidney (MDBK) cells and also by the distribution of the peak IFN activities after Sephacryl S-200 gel filtration.