Enhancement of T cell cytotoxic responses by purified human fibroblast interferon.

Purified polyribonucleotide-induced human fibroblast interferon (HFIF) was tested for its effects on proliferative and cytotoxic human T cell responses to alloantigens. The addition of HFIF (100 to 400 IFU/ml) to mixed leukocyte cultures decreased alloantigen-induced lymphocyte proliferative responses as determined by both recovery of responding cells and by 3H-thymidine incorporation into responding cells. However, HFIF, but not the mock interferon preparation, increased the cytotoxic response of T cells to allogeneic cells by 4- to 5-fold when expressed in terms of lytic units. Although fibroblast and leukocyte interferons have different physicochemical and biologic properties, the results reported here are in concert with previous findings concerning the effects of virus-induced leukocyte interferon on human T cell functions.