The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1999/2/521/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 189, Number 3, February 1, 1999 521-530

Articles

Type I Interferons Keep Activated T Cells Alive

Philippa Marrack*,{ddagger},§,¶, John Kappler*,§,||,¶, and Tom Mitchell*

From the * Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Medicine, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206; and the {ddagger} Department of Biochemistry Biophysics and Genetics, the § Department of Immunology, the || Department of Pharmacology, and the Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262

Antigen injection into animals causes antigen-specific T cells to become activated and, rapidly thereafter, die. This antigen-induced death is inhibited by inflammation. To find out how inflammation has this effect, various cytokines were tested for their ability to interfere with the rapid death of activated T cells. T cells were activated in vivo, isolated, and cultured with the test reagents. Two groups of cytokines were active, members of the interleukin 2 family and the interferons (IFNs) {alpha} and β. This activity of IFN-{alpha}/β has not been described previously. It was due to direct effects of the IFNs on the T cells and was not mediated by induction of a second cytokine such as interleukin 15. IFN-{gamma} did not slow the death of activated T cells, and therefore the activity of IFN-{alpha}/β was not mediated only by activation of Stat 1, a protein that is affected by both classes of IFN. IFN-{alpha}/β did not raise the levels of Bcl-2 or Bcl-XL in T cells. Therefore, their activity was distinct from that of members of the interleukin 2 family or CD28 engagement. Since IFN-{alpha}/β are very efficiently generated in response to viral and bacterial infections, these molecules may be among the signals that the immune system uses to prevent activated T cell death during infections.

Key Words: interferon {gamma} • apoptosis • interferon type I • cell survival • T cell

Address correspondence to Philippa Marrack, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Goodman Bldg., 5th Floor, 1400 Jackson St., Denver, CO 80206. Phone: 303-398-1322; Fax: 303-398-1396; E-mail: marrackp{at}njc.org

1 Abbreviations used in this paper: CFSE, carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester; CY, cychrome; SEB, staphylococcal enterotoxin B.


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