Effects of interferons on tumour necrosis factor alpha production from human keratinocytes

Interferons (IFNs) have been reported to have pleiotrophic effects including the ability to induce the production of other cytokines in several cell types. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is pro-inflammatory cytokine a known to be produced by a variety of cells including human keratinocytes. In the present study, we sought to determine the effects of IFNs on TNF-alpha production from human keratinocytes. IFN-gamma (50-100 ng/ml) induced TNF-alpha production dose dependently, but no induction of TNF-alpha was observed with IFN-alpha or IFN-beta. Since in the epidermis cytokines often work with in a cascade fashion and keratinocytes are a source of primary cytokine, IL-1 alpha, whether combined treatment with IFN-gamma and IL-1 alpha had a synergistic effect on TNF-alpha production was examined. Combined treatment with IFN-gamma (100 ng/ml) and IL-1 alpha (10 ng/ml) induced 2-3-fold higher level of TNF-alpha than IL-1 alpha alone. These results suggest that IFN-gamma is a positive regulator for the production of TNF-alpha from human keratinocytes and likely to increase skin inflammation.