Abstract
Because recombinant human interleukin 2 was reported to induce fever on clinical trials, the involvement of interleukin 1 (IL-1) in inducing fever was studied in human blood mononuclear cells and in rabbits.
1. When the mononuclear cells were cultured with 10-3, 000 ng/ml of TGP-3 in the presence of polymyxin B at 37°C for 24 hr, 2-5 ng/106 cells of IL-1β was detected in the culture extract (intracellular and culture supernatant) as determined by a radioimmunoassay. However, the level of IL-1β fluctuated depending on the lot of cell preparations.
2. When the culture extract of the mononuclear cells containing a relatively large amount of IL-1β (over 10 ng/ml) were injected intravenously into the rabbits, the rectal temperature was raised with a peak 50-60 min after the injection; the fever pattern was similar to that typically induced by endogenous pyrogens.
These results suggest that the fever observed on clinical trials of TGP-3 might be due to IL-1β production.
