Lack of correlation between impaired Interferon production and natural killer activity of lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

The ability of lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) to produce Interferon (IFN-α) in response to Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) was studiedin vitro. The correlation between individual IFN-α titers and natural killer (NK) cell activity and the presence of HLA system antigens associated with MS (B-7 and DRW-2) was also investigated. Lymphocytes from MS patients showed a significantly impaired capacity to synthesize IFN-αin vitro when compared to lymphocytes from healthy donors (mean titers: 85.9 I.U. and 268.2 I.U., respectively). Marked differences in IFN-α titers were observed in the group of MS patients. The production of IFN-α by the patients' lymphocytes did not correlate with either the activity of NK cells or with their stimulation by exogenous IFN-α. There was also no correlation between IFN-α production by lymphocytes from MS patients and the presence or absence of B-7 and DRW-2 antigens.