Interferon-β treatment alters peripheral blood monocytes chemokine production in MS patients

Abstract

Chemokines direct the recruitment of leukocytes to inflammatory sites and may also participate in the regulation of cytokine production by naive T helper cells. Chemokine production by blood monocytes was investigated by intracytoplasmic staining in interferon-β (IFN-β)-treated multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, untreated MS patients, and healthy controls. Under unstimulated conditions, no differences in the production of interleukin-8 (IL-8), IFN-inducible protein 10 (IP-10), monokine induced by interferon-γ (Mig), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-3 (MCP-3) were seen between untreated MS patients and controls. Chemokine production by monocytes following T cell activation was decreased in MS patients taking IFN-β compared to controls and untreated MS patients. Unlike other chemokines, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (MIP-1α) production by monocytes was significantly decreased in untreated MS patients compared to controls, and IFN-β treatment increased MIP-1α expression to the level seen in controls. In vitro addition of IFN-β1b to peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) cultures tended to decrease the production of IL-8, IP-10, Mig, MCP-1, and MCP-3, but not of MIP-1α. These findings suggest that IFN-β treatment may have a differential affect on chemokine production by monocytes. Longitudinal studies must be done to confirm these observations.