Interferon-gamma production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with Behçet's syndrome.

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNC) from patients with Behçet's syndrome was compared with production by MNC from control donors. There was no evidence of significant spontaneous production of either IFN-gamma or interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) by unstimulated MNC from patients or controls but phytohaemagglutinin treatment of MNC induced IFN-gamma in both patient and control groups. Significantly higher titres of IFN-gamma were produced by MNC from patients with Behçet's syndrome than MNC from patients with other inflammatory diseases (P = 0.005), hospital controls (P = 0.036) or healthy controls (P = 0.009). No IFN was detected in plasma from patients or controls.