Lack of correlation between impaired interferon production and natural killer activity of lymphocytes in multiple sclerosis.

The ability of lymphocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) to produce Interferon (IFN-alpha) in response to Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) was studied in vitro. The correlation between individual IFN-alpha titers and natural killer (NK) cell activity and the presence of HLA system antigens associated with MS (B-7 and DRW-2) was also investigated. Lymphocytes from MS patients showed a significantly impaired capacity to synthesize IFN-alpha in vitro when compared to lymphocytes from healthy donors (mean titers: 85.9 I.U. and 268.2 I.U., respectively). Marked differences in IFN-alpha titers were observed in the group of MS patients. The production of IFN-alpha by the patients' lymphocytes did not correlate with either the activity of NK cells or with their stimulation by exogenous IFN-alpha. There was also no correlation between IFN-alpha production by lymphocytes from MS patients and the presence or absence of B-7 and DRW-2 antigens.