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

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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.