Qualitative and quantitative studies of cytokines synthesized and secreted by non-human primate peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Non-human primates are being utilized in a variety of pre-clinical studies, including those involved with mechanisms of organ transplant rejection and those being used as models to test the efficacy of vaccines against a variety of infectious diseases, most notably AIDS. These studies clearly involve immunological effector mechanisms, which include the interaction between T cells, B cells, monocytes, and cytokines that regulate these interactions. However, there is very little known about assays and quantitation of cytokines from non-human primates. In attempts to address this issue, bioassays, commercially available EIA kits, and primer pairs and probes specific for human cytokines were evaluated for their ability to detect and quantitate the non-human primate homologues. Data suggest that although the EIA kits that were evaluated for human IL-1 alpha, IFN-gamma, and TNF-beta failed, the EIA kits for IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-alpha, the bioassays and RT-PCR assays for each of the cytokines were successful in detection and most likely quantitation of the non-human primate cytokine homologues. These assays will greatly facilitate future studies on the role of cytokines in these non-human primate studies.