Cyclosporine affects the function of antigen-presenting cells.

The immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine (CsA) is known to affect T-cell function. We have studied the effect of CsA on the specific proliferative response of T-cell lines to antigen. In addition to blocking IL-2 release by specifically activated T-cell lines, CsA also affected the ability of irradiated spleen cells to present preprocessed antigen to T-cell lines. Irradiated spleen cells pulsed with antigen for 2 hr were able to stimulate a proliferative response in T-cell lines. Following a 2-hr pulse with CsA, antigen presentation by these irradiated spleen cells was reduced significantly, suggesting that CsA not only affects T cells, but also affects the function of antigen-presenting cells.