The purpose of the studies reported here is to determine whether interleukin 1 (IL-1) plays an important role in the regulation of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell induction. The addition of exogenous IL-1 to peripheral blood lymphocyte culture containing suboptimal concentrations of interleukin 2 (IL-2) resulted in induction of cytoplasmic pore-forming protein expression. Polymerase chai...

IL-5 expresses various biologic effects on several types of lymphocytes, including B cells, eosinophils, and T cells. We demonstrated that the incubation of resting splenocytes from C57BL/6 mice in murine rIL-5 enhances IL-2-mediated lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity against various tumor cells. IL-5 alone, however, does not induce killer activity. IL-2-mediated LAK activity increases ...

Antimicrobial effector mechanisms are central to the function of the innate immune response in host defense against microbial pathogens. In humans, activation of Toll-like receptor 2/1 (TLR2/1) on monocytes induces a vitamin D dependent antimicrobial activity against intracellular mycobacteria. Here, we report that TLR activation of monocytes triggers induction of the defensin beta 4 gene (DEFB...

BACKGROUND Interleukin-31 (IL-31) is a recently identified cytokine produced by Th2 cells that is involved in the development of atopic dermatitis-induced skin inflammation and pruritus. Its receptor, IL-31RA, is expressed by a number of cell types, including epithelial cells, eosinophils, and activated monocytes and macrophages. To date, however, the regulation of Th2 responses by distinct cel...

Although CTLs bear main immune responses in human tumors, stable CTL clones against human lung cancer have rarely been generated. Our previous study demonstrated efficient autologous CTL induction in human gastric cancer and glioblastoma by cytokine combination of interleukin (IL)-1beta (167 IU/ml), IL-2 (67 IU/ml), IL-4 (67 IU/ml), and IL-6 (134 IU/ml). In this study, we demonstrated successfu...

Incomplete T cell antigen receptor-mediated signaling induces an unresponsive state known as anergy. Previously, we had shown that anergy can be induced in antigen-primed but not naive T cells. In this report, we found that in vitro primed T cells from IL-2R alpha-deficient mice were resistant to anergy induction in contrast to comparably treated wild-type T cells. This resistance persisted eve...

We have analyzed the effects of interleukin-10 (IL-10) on the entry of quiescent CD4(+) T cells into the cell cycle upon stimulation with the superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB). IL-10 arrested cells at G0/G1. IL-10 treatment prevented the downregulation of p27(Kip1), an inhibitory protein that controls progression out of the G0 phase of the cell cycle. IL-10 also prevented the upre...

Using a novel transgenic mouse model of spontaneous mammary carcinoma, we show here that the IL-12/pulse IL-2 combination can induce rapid and complete regression of well-established autochthonous tumor in a setting where the host immune system has been conditioned by the full dynamic process of neoplastic progression and tumorigenesis. Further, this regimen inhibits neovascularization of estab...