Lymphokine production by human peripheral blood lymphocytes: analysis by in situ hybridization.

Lymphokine production in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) was investigated by in situ hybridization with 35S-labelled RNA probes coding for interleukin 2 (IL-2), gamma-interferon (gamma-IFN) and granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The proportion of PBMNCs expressing lymphokine mRNA varied according to the stimuli used and followed similar patterns to those previously observed by Northern blot analysis. Only a relatively low proportion of PBMNCs expressed lymphokine mRNA after stimulation for a given time, and this seems not to be due to the heterogeneity of T cells.