Individual diversity of IL-6 generation by human monocytes with lentinan administration.

Effect of in vivo administration of lentinan on IL-6 generation by human peripheral blood monocytes was examined using 5 healthy volunteers. Monocytes isolated from them before and 3 days after intravenous administration of 2 mg lentinan per person were cultured for 2 days and then the levels of IL-6 in the supernatants of cultured monocytes were determined. In vivo lentinan administration elicited an increase in IL-6 generation by monocytes in 3 of 5 cases. Failure to increase IL-6 generation by monocytes in two cases is characteristic of lentinan, since these monocytes generated an apparent level of IL-6 in response to lipopolysaccharide, a potent monocyte activator. Thus, it was demonstrated that lentinan was capable of augmenting IL-6 generation by human monocytes and that there was individual difference in their responsiveness to lentinan.