ENHANCEMENT OF INTERLEUKIN 1 AND INTERLEUKIN 2 RELEASES BY UBENIMEX

Abstract

The effect of ubenimex on the release of interleukin 1 (IL-1) and interleukin 2 (IL-2) from immuno-competent cells was studied. Ubenimex enhanced release of IL-1 from mouse peritoneal macrophages at 1.0 and 100 μg/ml in vitro and the release at 1.0 μg/ml was larger. When ubenimex was administered to mice IL-1-releasing activity of the peritoneal macrophages was enhanced 3 and 5 days after the administration but not enhanced 1 day after the administration.
Ubenimex also enhanced IL-2 release from rat spleen cells at 0.1 and 10 μg/ml, when concanavalin A (Con A) was added in the IL-2-releasing system. The enhancement was still observed with mouse spleen cells, when serum was further added. Moreover, thymocyteproliferating activity was attained in the broths which rat spleen cells were incubated with ubenimex from 0.1 to 10 μg/ml in the absence and presence of Con A.