Hodgkin P D, Bond M W, O'Garra A, Frank G, Lee F, Coffman R L, Zlotnik A, Howard M
DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Palo Alto, CA 94304.
J Immunol. 1988 Jul 1;141(1):151-7.
Thymocytes undergo a vigorous proliferative response when stimulated with a combination of IL-4 and PMA. We have found that conA-induced supernatants from a number of Th cell clones could enhance the level of IL-4/PMA-induced proliferation of unseparated thymocytes 0.5- to 2-fold and of peanut agglutinin-positive thymocytes 2- to 10-fold. These supernatants did not contain IL-2 or IFN-gamma, and the enhancing activity could be chromatographically separated from IL-3, -4, -5, and granulocyte/macrophage CSF. The possibility that the thymocyte enhancement factor contained in these supernatants was IL-6 was suggested when murine rIL-6 was found to have similar activity. Further evidence for the identity of these two factors was obtained when an IL-6 assay, based on plasmacytoma growth, was used to test column fractions showing thymocyte enhancement. All fractions active in the thymocyte enhancement assay also had activity in the plasmacytoma growth assay. These observations suggest that the thymocyte-stimulating activity present in the T cell supernatants was due to IL-6.
胸腺细胞在用白细胞介素-4（IL-4）和佛波酯（PMA）联合刺激时会经历强烈的增殖反应。我们发现，来自多个T细胞克隆的刀豆蛋白A（conA）诱导的上清液可使未分离的胸腺细胞的IL-4/PMA诱导的增殖水平提高0.5至2倍，使花生凝集素阳性胸腺细胞的增殖水平提高2至10倍。这些上清液不含IL-2或干扰素-γ（IFN-γ），且增强活性可通过色谱法与IL-3、-4、-5以及粒细胞/巨噬细胞集落刺激因子（CSF）分离。当发现小鼠重组IL-6具有类似活性时，提示这些上清液中所含的胸腺细胞增强因子可能是IL-6。当使用基于浆细胞瘤生长的IL-6测定法来检测显示胸腺细胞增强的柱层析组分时，获得了这两种因子同一性的进一步证据。在胸腺细胞增强测定中具有活性的所有组分在浆细胞瘤生长测定中也具有活性。这些观察结果表明，T细胞上清液中存在的刺激胸腺细胞的活性是由IL-6引起的。
