Effect of interferon-alpha-containing drugs on innate immunity reactions and population and subpopulation composition of peripheral blood lymphocytes

Abstract

Introduction. Interferon-containing drugs are frequently used, but their effect on the innate immune cells response and adaptive immunity parameters is not well known.Aim. To investigate the effect of interferon-alpha-containing drugs on the production of neutrophil extracellular traps, the population and subpopulation composition of peripheral blood lymphocytes in cell culture conditions.Materials and methods. We used peripheral blood from 12 healthy donors and 6 patients with acute inflammation, which was used as a neutrophil and lymphocyte source. Neutrophil extracellular traps were induced by two methods: either spontaneously, without stimulation, or by lipopolysaccharides.Results and discussions. The investigation of innate immunity responses showed that neutrophils from healthy donors demonstrated a slight spontaneous production of neutrophil extracellular traps during incubation (4 h). The significant NET increase was observed after stimulation with lipopolysaccharides up to 31.59 ± 2.32% after 2-hour incubation period, and up to 42.93 ± 3.56% after 4-hour incubation period. Viferon does not have a significant effect on the number of neutrophilic extracellular traps, but significantly increases their size. Kipferon limits the excessive production of neutrophil extracellular traps, reducing the number of these structures, and also significantly reduces their size and changes their morphology. Ergoferon causes not only a rapid increase in the number of neutrophilic extracellular traps, but also significantly changes their morphology. The extremely long DNA fibers that go beyond the scope of view are observed when exposed to Ergoferon. Kipferon stimulates the production of several morphological forms of neutrophilic extracellular traps at once.Conclusion. The development of innate immune responses is mainly maintained by Viferon and Kipferon. At the same time, Kipferon restrains the intensity of the inflammatory reaction and increases the number of active NK cells. The conducted multilevel study allow researchers to identify new properties and mechanisms of action of administered pharmacological products containing interferon-α, which confirm the effective stimulation of individual components of the immune system due to their action.