RESUMO
AIM: To study the effect of prothymosin alpha (Pro T alpha) as a fusion protein on secretion of IFN-gamma, IFN-alpha and TNF-alpha in vitro. METHODS: The in vitro study was carried out on the culture of splenocytes, splenic and peritoneal macrophages isolated from Balb/c mice. Splenocytes were incubated with various concentrations of Pro T alpha (1 x 10(-7)-1 x 10(-10) mol.L-1) with or without Con A (5 micrograms.mL-1) for 72 h. Splenic and peritoneal macrophages were respectively treated with Pro T alpha (1 x 10(-7)-1 x 10(-10) mol.L-1) in the presence of LPS (10 micrograms.mL-1) for 24 h. Then IFN-gamma, IFN-alpha and TNF-alpha levels in the supernatant were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: Pro T alpha (1 x 10(-7) mol.L-1) was found to obviously increase IFN-gamma level (P < 0.05) in the supernatant of splenocytes compared with the control group. Moreover, Pro T alpha (1 x 10(-7) mol.L-1) significantly induced the secretion of IFN-alpha (P < 0.01) and TNF-alpha (P < 0.01) in splenic and peritoneal macrophages. CONCLUSION: In vitro, Pro T alpha could increase the secretion of IFN-gamma, IFN-alpha and TNF-alpha.