Stimulation of protein synthesis in human neutrophils by gamma-interferon.

Treatment of human, peripheral blood neutrophils with gamma-interferon both "primed" their ability to generate reactive oxidants and increased their rate of protein synthesis. This increased rate of protein synthesis was greatest 60 min after the addition of 100 U/ml gamma-interferon and was not due to an increased intracellular pool of radiolabelled amino acid. Analysis of the newly-synthesized polypeptides by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) revealed two classes of proteins which were regulated by this agent. The first of these represented proteins whose rate of labelling increased very little (1-2-fold) whereas the rate of biosynthesis of a second group of proteins increased more markedly (10-20-fold). We propose that these newly-synthesized, gamma-interferon regulated proteins play an important role in the function of these cells during an acute inflammatory response.