Calorimetry: a highly sensitive technique for evaluating the effect of IL-2, IFN-γ and IL-10 on the response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Abstract

We report the application of a calorimetric method for evaluating the metabolic response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) either from S. mansoni infected patients or from normal subjects under stimulation with antigen or with cytokines. Our results demonstrate that the antigenic stimulation of the PBMC with soluble adult worm antigenic preparation (SWAP) was able to discriminate PBMC from infected and non-infected donors, based on calorimetric cell reactivity. The total heat release in the stimulation of PBMC with interleukin 2 (IL-2) or gamma interferon (IFN-γ) was greater for PBMC from infected patients than normal subjects. The activation of the release heat in PBMC induced by IFN-γ, IL-2 or antigen (SWAP) was inhibited by pretreatment of PBMC with interleukin 10 (IL-10). However, this inhibition mediated by IL-10 could be promptly reversed by pretreatment of IL-10 with its respective anti-IL-10 monoclonal antibody. Our present results extend the use of the calorimetric assay and suggest its application for studying cellular reactivity in basic and applied immunological systems.