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. 2005 Nov;66(11):1137-45.
doi: 10.1016/j.humimm.2006.02.002. Epub 2006 Mar 3.

Interleukin-12 increases proliferation and interferon-gamma production but not cytolytic activity of human antigen-specific effector memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes: power of the effect depends on the functional avidity of the T cell and the antigen concentration

Hetty J Bontkes  1 , Janneke J Ruizendaal, Duco Kramer, Chris J L M Meijer, Marco W J Schreurs, Erik Hooijberg
Affiliations

Interleukin-12 increases proliferation and interferon-gamma production but not cytolytic activity of human antigen-specific effector memory cytotoxic T lymphocytes: power of the effect depends on the functional avidity of the T cell and the antigen concentration

Hetty J Bontkes et al. Hum Immunol. 2005 Nov.

Abstract

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play an important role in the defense against viral infections and malignant diseases. Interleukin (IL)-12 plays a crucial role in induction of antigen-specific primary CTL responses and enhances proliferation, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production, and cytolytic activity of mitogen-stimulated T cells. However, the effects of IL-12 on proliferation and effector functions of previously in vitro or in vivo primed antigen-specific CTLs are less clear. Our results show that IL-12 induces an increase in proliferation of and IFN-gamma production by influenza peptide-specific CTLs, but no increase in cytolytic activity on a per cell basis was observed in bulk cultures. Stimulation of a CTL clone confirmed these results; IL-12 supported an increase in IFN-gamma production, but did not increase cytolytic activity. The extent of the effect of IL-12 on IFN-gamma production differs per CTL clone and depends on the avidity of the clone and the peptide concentration on its target. Our data suggest that IL-12 is a good adjuvant for boosting CTL responses, in terms of proliferation and IFN-gamma production, the latter particularly for CTLs with low to intermediate avidity, such as tumor-associated self-antigen-specific CTLs.

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