Defective Leukocyte Interferon Response in Children with Recurrent Infections Accompanied by Arthralgia

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Abstract
Children with recurrent and/or unusually severe infections were investigated for possible defects in the interferon (IFN)-natural killer (NK) cell system. Two series, each of 13 children, were examined, 1 in 1982 and 1 in 1983. Healthy children, 7 in 1982 and 8 in 1983, served as controls. Peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes were examined for IFN production induced by the IFN-.alpha. inducers Sendai virus and Escherichia coli and by the IFN-.gamma. inducers Concanavalin A and Lens culinaris lectin. None of these inducers discriminated patients from controls. The bacteria Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SACol), inducers of atypical IFN in null lymphocytes, yielded significantly lower IFN production in infection-prone children than in controls, particularly in children with recurrent infections accompanied by arthralgia. No differences in basal NK activity or in the in vitro enhancement of such activity by IFN-.alpha. were found between patients and controls.