Human Peripheral Blood Null Lymphocytes Stimulated by Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I Produce Atypical Acid-Labile Interferon in Vitro

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Abstract
Peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBL) stimulated in vitro by heat-killed formaldehyde-fixed S. aureus Cowan I (SACoI) produced acid-labile .alpha.-interferon (IFN-.alpha.) and, to various extents, also IFN-.gamma.. The IFN producers resided in nylon wool-nonadherent cells, and monocytes suppressed SACoI-induced IFN responses. Further separation of nonadherent PBL in accordance with expression of surface antigenic markers was performed with a panning technique. The SACoI induced production of IFN in cells that carried neither surface Ig nor OKT3-defined antigens. these cells were also characterized as OKM1- and OKT10-negative. Cells with natural killer (NK) activity against K562 erythroleukemia cells were located in both OKM1- and OKT10-positive and -negative cells. At centrifugation on Percoll density gradients. Cells with NK activity and IFN response against SACoI were recovered from light gradient fraction that contained mainly large granular lymphocytes (LGL). The IFN producers were enriched by removal of sheep erythrocyte-rosetting T cells from the Percoll fractions. These SACoI-induced IFN-producing PBL are LGL but lack certain antigens that are frequently found on NK cells.