In vivo effects of interferon-γ and anti-interferon-γ antibody on the experimentally induced lichenoid tissue reaction

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Abstract
We investigated the in vivo effect of recombinant interferon-.gamma. (IFN-.gamma.) and tumour necrosis factor .alpha. (TNF-.alpha.) treatment of mice on the development of the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction and lichenoid tissue reaction (LTR) following the local injection of cloned autoreactive T cells. Both the DTH reaction and the LTR were significantly enhanced by pretreatment with IFN-.gamma., but not with TNF-.alpha.. Induction of class II MHC antigens on keratinocytes was not essential for the enhancement by IFN-.gamma.. Administration of anti-IFN-.gamma. antibody reduced the DTH reaction and LTR, although complete inhibition was not observed with our treatment regimen. The ability of IFN-.gamma. to increase the number of the cloned T cells invading the epidermis in vivo is in keeping with our previous observation that IFN-.gamma. treatment of cultured keratinocytes markedly increased the adherence reaction between T cells and keratinocytes in vitro.