Contrary roles of IL-4 and IL-12 on IL-10 production and proliferation of human tumour reactive T cells.

The cytokine profile of tumour reactive T cells is likely to play a central role in their function. However, little is known about how cytokine patterns of tumour reactive T cells can be regulated. Here, the authors investigated the influence of exogenous regulatory cytokines in addition to interleukin-2 (IL-2) on cytokine patterns and the proliferation of T cells recognizing an autologous sarcoma cell line. In this system, IL-4 and IL-12 showed the most polarizing influences on tumour reactive T cells. Exogenous IL-4 induced a predominant production of IL-4 while decreasing the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and IL-10 production by tumour reactive T cells. It also stimulated the growth of tu…