Mj. Balish et al., INTERFERON-ALPHA AND INTERFERON-GAMMA-INDUCED MODULATION OF PROTEINS IN HUMAN CORNEAL FIBROBLASTS, Journal of interferon research, 13(4), 1993, pp. 289-294
Little is known about the effects of interferon (IFN) on cell function
in the eye. We have analyzed the effect of INF-alpha and IFN-gamma on
the expression of proteins in cultured human corneal fibroblasts. Tre
atment with IFN-alpha increased the synthesis of proteins of 84, 76, 5
2, and 28 kD and decreased the synthesis of a 72-kD protein. Treatment
with IFN-gamma increased the synthesis of proteins of 83, 66, 64, 54,
and 47 kD. The effect of IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma were first detected
at 5-9 h and 9 h, respectively, after the addition of the IFNs and wer
e maximal at 17 and 24 h, respectively. Most of the changes were seen
at doses of 1 x 10(1) to 1 x 10(2) U/ml of IFN-alpha or IFN-gamma and
were maximal at 1 x 10(2) to 1 x 10(3) U/ml. Thus, each IFN induced di
stinct proteins based on apparent molecular weight and isoelectric poi
nt. These results show that IFN-alpha and IFN-gamma affect the synthes
is of small groups of distinct proteins in human corneal fibroblasts.