Comparison of cytokine production in cultures of whole human blood and purified mononuclear cells

In order to examine inter- and intra-individual variations in cytokine prod uction, blood was collected from 48 healthy subjects on each of 4 occasions separated by 4 weeks. Whole blood (diluted 1:10) and mononuclear cell (MNC ) cultures were stimulated for 24 h with either concanavalin A (Con A) or b acterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the concentrations of IL-1 alpha, IL- 1 beta, IL-2, TNF-alpha, IL-10 and IFN-gamma in the culture medium measured . There sere highly significant inter-individual variations in the producti on of each of the cytokines measured. However, the level of the production of each cytokine appeared to be characteristic of an individual. There mere significant correlations between production of each cytokine in whole bloo d and MNC cultures. It is concluded that there is significant inter-individ ual variation in cytokine production which is unaffected by time or by the stimulus used to elicit cytokine production, and that whole blood cultures can be used instead of MNC cultures to measure cytokine production. (C) 199 9 Academic Press.