Suppressive effect of interferon‐γ on the BCL1 cell‐dependent interleukin 5 bioassay

Abstract

Proliferation of BCL₁ cells, generally used for the measurement of murine interleukin (IL)5, is shown to be strongly suppressed by interferon (IFN)-γ. This effect can be abrogated by the addition of anti-IFN-γ antibodies. Thus, the IL5 activity of culture supernatants derived from T cells simultaneously producing IFN-γ and IL 5, can only be seen with BCL₁ cells in the presence of anti-IFN-γ antibodies. If anti-IFN-γ antibodies are omitted, T cells which produce both, IFN-γ and IL5, may mistakenly be grouped into the T_H1 subtype producing only IFN-γ, but no IL5.